As We Stumble Along
by rockstarhobbit
Summary: Everyone knows what happened to Harry in Deathly Hallows, but not much is known about the occurrences at Hogwarts. What really went down at Hogwarts while Harry was off Horcrux hunting? Alliances are tested, friendships broken, how will Hogwarts survive?
1. Prologue: Bad Times

**Neville Longbottom and the True Rumors**

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**Summary: **Everyone knows what happened to Harry in Deathly Hallows, but not much is known about the occurrences at Hogwarts. What really went down at Hogwarts while Harry was off Horcrux hunting? NEVILLE-CENTRIC

**A/n:** Well, I haven't written Harry Potter fanfiction in… ages… so I was curious what happened back at Hogwarts, so I decided to write it myself! I will not have many spoilers in the beginning. And will follow along the plot of the book, just telling the other (possibly more interesting) side of the story.

This story will have mainly Neville/Luna with a little bit of Harry/Ginny at select points. The goal of this is to stray a good distance away from Harry (since the entire book was about him (obviously)), and tell it from the POV of Neville.

Enjoy.

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter is not mine. If it was… I MUST NOT TELL SPOILERS!!! This disclaimer will be edited when I know most people have read DH.

**---------------------------------**

Neville Alexander Longbottom stared blankly at the ceiling of his bedroom. Gran had refused to tell him much of what was going on, but it wasn't like the Gryffindor didn't have ears. His grandmother was talking to one of her friends just down the hall, and Neville could hear everything they were saying:

"Is it true?" he heard his Gran ask.

There was a brief silence. "Yes."

Well that certainly helped Neville out. This is what he was doing a lot lately. Eavesdropping. One could only read so much in the newspapers. He wanted to know how his friends were doing. How Luna was doing. How Ginny was.

"Is it going to be in the papers?"

More silence. Neville didn't like the tone in his grandmother's voice. It was so horribly much like when she was talking about his grandfather right before the man died. The tone itself was enough for Neville to know that something was wrong.

"Word is already spreading through the Wizarding World," the other witch responded.

Neville let his eyes drift shut. He hoped everyone was safe. He knew that the Weasley Wedding was today. On his birthday. He was going to go, but his Gran didn't want him to. Even though Neville was now a legal wizard, he still listened to the woman (probably most out of habit, and the fact that that woman scared him). He had a very quiet birthday at home, in his garden, with his plants. He remembered the last letter he had gotten from Luna. She was going to the wedding and hoped to see him there.

And Neville really missed everything about her. Her zany descriptions of things that didn't exist. The way she'd wear the radishes as her earrings. The way she'd laugh. The way it felt when he hugged her. Sure they were just friends, but Neville often found himself imagining that it was something more. He often found himself wishing that Luna was his girlfriend rather than just one of his best friends.

But alas, it just wasn't that way.

"What are we going to do?" Neville thought he could hear a fearful sob rip through his normally stoic grandmother.

"I don't know… I really don't…"

What was going on!? Neville wanted to know! Fear was beginning to rush through him.

There was dead silence for a few very long minutes, before the other witch spoke again. "But the Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead."

Neville felt the breath catch in his chest. Oh God. You-Know-Who… Voldemort had won. A sick feeling grew inside of him until he just couldn't take it anymore and he rushed from his room and made it to the bathroom just in time as the birthday cake came back up.

Voldemort had won. The reality of it sunk in harshly.

What were they going to do?

**---------------------------------**

**A/n:** So there's the introduction. I'll keep writing if people are interested. Neville's going to be our hero.

So leave some love in the form of a review and I'll start writing the next chapter. I'm probably one of the only people who have finished it and actually written HPFF… xD

So review!!


	2. And When We Thought Things Couldn’t

**Neville Longbottom and the True Rumors**

**---------------------------------**

**Summary: **Everyone knows what happened to Harry in Deathly Hallows, but not much is known about the occurrences at Hogwarts. What really went down at Hogwarts while Harry was off Horcrux hunting? NEVILLE-CENTRIC

**A/n:** I spent the day pouring over my DH book. And pieced together a rough outline of what happened before we met up with Neville in the book… and we aren't given much to work with, so I am taking a lot of liberties with this story.

Thanks for all the reviews, they made me smile.

And just as a heads up, I have changed my pen-name... but it is still me!

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter is not mine. If it was… I MUST NOT TELL SPOILERS!!! This disclaimer will be edited when I know most people have read DH.

**---------------------------------**

**Chapter 1**: And When We Thought Things Couldn't Get Better

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What were they going to do?

Sit it out, that was all that they really could do. Neville wanted to go see that everyone was okay, but was put under almost immediate house arrest. In his Gran's eyes, he was still a child, and a child had no place in such a war-torn area. Besides, word was received that the Weasleys were all safe. And there was therefore no reason for her grandson go leave.

But it soon began to get a bit out of hand. The next morning's headline for the Prophet had nothing to say about what had happened, just a large picture of Neville's friend Harry Potter… the Boy Who Lived… The Chosen One.

**WANTED FOR QUESTIONING ABOUT  
THE DEATH OF ALBUS DUMBLEDORE**

The headline filled Neville with so much anger and hatred he just wanted to go find the nearest thing and… UGH! The Death Eaters had obviously taken over the Prophet too. Meaning it was worth just about… nothing. More fear settled into Neville's gut. There had been a decent amount of fear growing in him since he discovered that You-Know-Who had taken over. He had immediately written a letter to Luna, to make sure she was okay. She hadn't responded yet.

And Neville was still being treated like a child. Like he didn't have a right to know. And damn it! He did! He wanted to know. It happened on day when Gran was talking to Uncle Algie.

The two were speaking in hushed voices about the coverup of the Ministry take-over. And Neville had been out in his garden (what? it was a good stress reducer!) when he walked in and they immediately stopped talking. Gran was in the middle of a sentence.

"What's going on?" Neville asked slowly as he looked between the two of them.

"Nothing Neville dear," Gran said with a so obviously faked smile it made Neville feel sick. "Now go wash up and get ready for dinner."

Neville promptly shook his head and glared at them. "What's going on?!" he repeated, a bit more forcefully this time.

"Neville, please," Gran said with that harsh tone of her's that made Neville flinch.

But the Gryffindor stood his ground. "I'm seventeen years old! My friends are in danger. WHAT IS GOING ON!?"

That stunned his relatives into silence. The two of them just looked at the now legal wizard standing in front of them.

It was Uncle Algie that broke the silence. "No one knows about You-Know-Who except a few of us… Prophet is saying that Scrimgeour resigned. We know that isn't true."

Neville looked at the man. He knew that wasn't all. He saw a brief passing of discomfort in the man's eyes as his gaze remained hard on him. It was almost as if Neville was intimidating him and not the other way around as it usually was.

"They're making all Muggle-borns register. With the ministry." Neville could feel more anger and fear welling up inside of him. Some of his best friends were muggle born. "They… stole magic."

"Stole magic!?" That was preposterous! A sudden pang of fear hit him.

Hermione. Dean.

"What… what are they doing to them?" Neville asked, his voice small again. Small and fearful.

His Uncle refused to answer, so they were in silence for a few very long moments.

"Azkaban," his Gran whispered.

Silence.

Azkaban. Just for being a muggle-born? For having magic but being a muggle!? That was… that was…

Neville didn't realize his dirty fists were balling up tightly as anger spread through him. His Gran stood up and put a hand on his shoulder. "We have to go along with this Neville," she said softly, a tone the woman rarely ever used before. "The Order will come up with something. As we speak they're forging relationships between Muggle-Borns and Wizarding families. To save them."

Neville relaxed slightly. Maybe… maybe they would be okay. Maybe everything would be all right. Yeah. Right.

**---------------------------------**

Neville and his grandmother stayed out of the limelight for the next month. He went and got his Hogwarts supplies at Diagon Alley. Gran was even acting differently in public. Acting like a Pureblood… like she was better than the rest. Neville knew it was just an act, but it was so disheartening to see it. So disheartening that she had to do that.

He got a letter back from Luna and he felt some of the weight come off his shoulders; he felt some of the fear leave the pit of his stomach.

She was okay. It was like many other Luna letters, and brought the first smile to Neville's face since his birthday.

But it was soon broken as September 1st rolled around. Neville was not looking forward to going back to Hogwarts for the first time ever. And the headline of the Prophet only made things worse:

**SEVERUS SNAPE CONFIRMED AS HOGWARTS HEADMASTER**

"I'm not going back," Neville said quickly as soon as he saw that headline. He let his trunk fall on the ground and he sat on top of it. It earned him a nasty glare from Gran.

"You are going back! All students must be educated at Hogwarts or face Azkaban," his Gran snapped. Neville had obviously forgotten that little tidbit. He quietly stood back up and continued reading the article. And a new Muggle Studies and Defense teacher? He had never taken Muggle Studies, but had opted at the end of last year to take a sort of elective in it, because Muggles were fascinating. Now he wished he hadn't.

He of course knew about Charity Burbage. He had spoken to her once or twice a year and she was such a pleasant woman (wonderful at Herbology as well). Neville just enjoyed sitting and talking with her. She had gone missing, and Neville knew she was dead. He just… knew…

"Let's go Neville," Gran said harshly. "We don't want to miss the train!"

"Can't I Apparate on my own?" Neville asked quickly, he hated side-along Apparation.

"Don't be silly Neville. You haven't passed your test yet!" and with that, the woman popped away, Neville and his trunk in tow.

The only reason Neville didn't pass his test was because new law stated you failed once, you couldn't try again for another seven months. He managed to apparate a yard away from where he was supposed to, and the Ministry failed him. A yard! Three feet!

He could have fallen over and made it inside the circle and passed it if he would have thought fast enough.

**---------------------------------**

Soon they were on the ever crowded Platform 9 3/4. But it was not as crowded as it usually was. Many students seemed to have been missing. His heart thought achingly of his muggle born friends, probably rotting away in Azkaban for no reason besides being born. He had heard nothing about Hermione… or Dean. And Harry was the Most Wanted Man in the Wizarding World, so he obviously had heard nothing from him.

Neville gave his Gran the customary kiss on the cheek as he grabbed his stuff and got onto the Hogwarts Express. He should have no issue finding a compartment, but the search was more tedious than he thought. He soon found the compartment with Ginny in it. The girl looked upset and scared. But who didn't anymore.

"Mind if I sit here?" he asked as he knocked on the glass.

Ginny turned to him and nodded silently. Neville saw that in her eyes it seemed as though she had gone through so much. And he probably didn't know half of it.

There was another knock at the compartment door and there stood Luna Lovegood. She didn't even ask as she came in and sat down and began reading her Quibbler upside down.

"Nice to see you again Neville Longbottom… and Ginerva Weasley."

Little did the three of them know exactly how dependant on each other they would become in the coming weeks.

**---------------------------------**

**A/n:** Many thanks to all the reviewers. I love each and every one of you. So I'm actually writing this up in advance and I'll post it every now and then when I remember to. I have a decent plot going and want to finish this up before I lose my muse.

Leave some love!


	3. Snape and Carrow

**Neville Longbottom and the True Rumors**

**---------------------------------**

**Summary: **Everyone knows what happened to Harry in Deathly Hallows, but not much is known about the occurrences at Hogwarts. What really went down at Hogwarts while Harry was off Horcrux hunting? NEVILLE-CENTRIC

**A/n:** Gracias por las revisiones. They are all greatly appreciated.

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter is not mine. If it was… I MUST NOT TELL SPOILERS!!! This disclaimer will be edited when I know most people have read DH.

**---------------------------------**

**Chapter 2**:Snape and Carrow

**---------------------------------**

The three of them rode in silence for a while, Neville moving his gaze across the two girls sitting directly across from him. Luna seemed like she was normal, but it was Ginny he was worried about.

"How's Ronald doing?" Luna suddenly asked out of the blue.

The question seemed to bring Ginny out of her daze. "What?" Her voice sounded strained.

"I didn't see him with you this morning. Or Harry and Hermione," she pointed out.

"Ron's sick…" Neville wasn't quite sure if Ginny was telling the truth or lying, but she seemed convincing.

"Poor thing," Luna commented. "What's wrong?"

"Spattergroit.."

"That can be cured," Luna said abruptly. "Just use the toe nails of therisbom!"

The whatishwhat? That's what Neville was thinking. Things suddenly fell into silence again. Wonderful.

A few long minutes later, Neville broke the silence. "So about Snape…"

"He's the least of our problems," Ginny said rather quickly. Huh? It seemed like an almost complete change in character.

"What do you mean?" Luna asked.

"The new Defense Teacher… and Muggle Studies… they're… I'm not supposed to know this, but they're Death Eaters!"

Neville felt his stomach drop once again. Could this year get any worse? Ever!? "But Harry… Hary'll help…" Neville's comment was met with dead silence. Was he missing something?

"Harry's not here," Ginny sighed gently. "No one knows where he went. He's on the run from the Ministry."

Wonderful! Just wonderful! He couldn't believe he had forgotten about reading that in the papers. Of course he wouldn't be coming back to Hogwarts. It would be too dangerous for him there. Neville was mentally smacking himself upside the head with every thought. Ugh!

"And Hermione's with him?" Neville asked, almost hoping Hermione wasn't.

"She's muggle born… of course she's with him."

Great. Just great.

**---------------------------------**

Neville tried to change the subject a few times, but every time he tried, it just went back to Harry and them. Ginny seemed to be hiding things from them, but he didn't push it. The youngest Weasley seemed so stressed about everything. Everything on the train was so tense, and Neville really did not like it.

He didn't like awkwardness. Not one little bit.

They were soon on the thestral driven carriages up to the school. The rain pounded on the roof of their carriage, almost as a sign of their eminent doom. But things seemed to get better when Seamus and Dean ended up sharing their carriage.

"Dean!" Neville said quickly. Dean, the guy in his dorm who would hang up Muggle posters. He was so sure he was muggle born.

Dean laughed. "Yeah…"

"I thought…"

"Well according to the Ministry file on me… my father was a wizard."

"But I thought…" Neville started, but Seamus cut him off.

"Shhh! Listening ears!"

Obvious Dean was one of the Order's rescuees. They found a wizarding family willing to take him in. Neville felt a bit more relaxed. Even though the dorm would feel empty without Harry and Ron there, at least Seamus and Dean would be there to make things… a little bit more normal.

They talked about little things. Stuff to obviously try to keep the tone light, but the underlying tenseness was still there. Why wouldn't things be tense? Severus Snape, the murderer of Dumbledore and the man who personally scared the living crap out of Neville, was the new Headmaster of Hogwarts. And apparently there were Death Eaters teaching at the school.

Neville was scared, but he said nothing and tried his hardest not to show it.

They slowly got out of the carriage when it came to a stop and Luna stopped to thank the lizardly-horse like beasts for the ride (which brought a true smile to Neville's face).

A small sigh escaped Neville as he walked in the rain up to the school. He could see kids running past him to get out of the rain, but the longer he was outside of the school, the better. For the first time since he started at Hogwarts, he was getting bad vibes off the school he had called home and he didn't want to go in.

Obviously Ginny felt the same way because the girl matched his walking speed as they both got soaked to the bone, walking to the school. He felt the girl squeeze his hand reassuringly as they walked in the school. A sick feeling washed over Neville.

The school was no longer welcoming, more like… foreboding. They made their way into the silent Great Hall to eat, but Neville was no longer hungry.

And his sick feeling just got worse and worse when Snape stood up to give his speech as Headmaster. That was when it finally fully sunk in. This was the end. No more. No one was going to come and save them. No one was going to help them. They were on their own.

Snape's horrible voice interrupted Neville's subconscious and he couldn't help but look up at him.

"I'd also like to introduce Amycus Carrow, who will be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts… and Alecto Carrow, who will be teaching Muggle Studies. They are also in charge of all discipline within the school."

Neville recognized them, as did a few other students. They were most definitely Death Eaters.

"Eat up!" With that the horrid, greasy-haired prat sat down.

Food appeared on the tables, but Neville wasn't hungry. Obviously neither was Ginny, Seamus, or Dean, because the three of them all just stared blankly at their empty plates in silence.

Dread had settled over Hogwarts. But they would find a way to live with this, to make this all okay.

**---------------------------------**

**A/n:** So my question is, would you prefer shorter chapters more often, or wait longer for a bit longer of a chapter? At lot depends on when I feel the urge to stop. I just keep writing until I find what I think is a good ending point.

So I'll ask you reviewers. More short chapters, or less long chapters.

Leave some love.


	4. The Carrows

**Neville Longbottom and the True Rumors**

**---------------------------------**

**Summary: **Everyone knows what happened to Harry in Deathly Hallows, but not much is known about the occurrences at Hogwarts. What really went down at Hogwarts while Harry was off Horcrux hunting?

**A/n:** Gracias por las revisiones. They are all greatly appreciated. To answer some questions, I have an idea of where I want to go with this story… and it may/may not include the 19 years later thing. Depends on when/if I get there.

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter is not mine. If it was… I MUST NOT TELL SPOILERS!!! This disclaimer will be edited when I know most people have read DH.

**---------------------------------**

**Chapter 3**:The Carrows

**---------------------------------**

That night, Neville, Seamus and Dean sat up in their dorm. The mood had relaxed a little bit since the feast, but not much. Neville let his legs hang from the edge of his bed as he looked over at the two empty beds in the dorm. Even though Harry and Ron rarely ever talked to him, it was so empty without having them there, Ron shouting about Quidditch and getting into an argument with Dean about which was better Quidditch or football.

"Hey Neville…" Dean's voice came.

"Yeah?" Neville asked slowly, looking from the beds and back over at Dean.

"Harry'll fix this… he isn't running away…"

Neville could only nod in response. He had a lot of faith in Harry, but things seemed so lost at the moment. Like everything had gone black, and their light was so far away it didn't light anything up.

**---------------------------------**

The next morning, things got even worse when Neville and his fellow seventh year Gryffindors and Slytherins ended up in Defense Against the Dark Arts with Amycus Carrow. Or as it should be called "Dark Arts." Neville realized that the second he entered the room and saw how it was decorated. The desks were positioned in a circle with a large area in the middle of it. As expected, the Slytherins sat on one half while the Gryffindors were on the other half. Glaring at each other.

"Not sitting pretty now are you?" Pansy Parkinson laughed. "Now that your precious Golden Boy is no where to be found…" Her laugh reminded Neville a lot of cats scratching their nails across a blackboard. The thought made Neville wince inwardly.

"He's just hiding," Seamus snapped angrily.

"Exactly, he's too scared to stand up and fight. He'd rather save his own scrawny arse than worry about you guys…"

"He's just waiting for the opportune moment!" Dean snapped.

"Oh, the Mudblood speaks!" Draco grinned as he rolled his eyes. "I don't know how the hell you managed it Thomas… but believe me, you're gonna be sorry when the ministry finally catches onto what you're doing…"

With that, Seamus angrily dove towards Draco, punching the little ferret hard across the jaw. The next thing anyone knew, Seamus was on the ground. Screaming.

"Useful little curse, the Cruciatus Curse…" came Amycus's voice from the doorway, his wand pointed directly at Seamus who looked like he would rather die than be under the curse any more.

Amycus flung Seamus at the wall before releasing him from the curse. "Ten points from Gryffindor," he snapped at his body, still recovering on the ground. "As well as a detention tomorrow night. Don't start fights in my class!"

"But—" Dean started, but Lavender put her hand over his mouth to keep him from talking anymore.

But Neville didn't care, he walked over and slowly helped Seamus up. He knew if he didn't, no one would, because Parvati was holding Dean's arm to keep him from moving to help his friend. They obviously didn't want to see another one of their friends get hurt.

Neville slowly helped Seamus over to the door before it slammed itself shut in front of them. "And where do you think you're going?" Amycus asked, his tone cold and bitter.

"He n-n-needs to go to the infirmary…" Neville said quickly, not turning to look at the man.

"Tsk. Tsk," the man laughed as he shook his head. "There will be no need for that boy. Now sit back down!"

Neville tensed slightly but didn't move. "He needed m-medical attention."

"SIT DOWN LONGBOTTOM!" the man shouted causing Lavender to squeak slightly in fear.

Neville slowly closed his eyes and tried to open the door. He was ready for something to happen, but nothing did. The door opened. He sighed in relief and started leading his friend out.

The next thing Neville knew, he was upside down on the ceiling, Seamus on the ground looking up at him. "Lemme down…" Neville whispered as he tried to get himself down, but all that happened was his wand fell out of his robe pocket and clattered on the floor.

"Enjoy the view Longbottom?" Amycus laughed before going on and explaining what the class would be about. Neville found himself having a difficult time paying attention. His head was pounding… he couldn't focus. He did notice Seamus making his way back to an empty desk.

Basically, Amycus said the class would be the Dark Arts, and how to use them. Not how to defend yourself against them. From his height, Neville swore he saw lights flashing in the Slytherin's eyes and the Gryffindor's move in discomfort.

Soon the period ended and the class left. He got hit a few times by the Slytherins as they exited, getting a particularly nasty black eye from Crabbe. Soon the room was empty except form him and Professor Carrow.

The evil man took the spell off him and Neville went crashing to the floor. "Next time think twice about disobeying me in my classroom Longbottom…" he snapped. "And you can join your friend in detention tomorrow night as well."

Great. Just wonderful. It took a few moments for his words to register and Neville slowly got up and left without saying a word to the Death Eater as he went to his other class.

If Amycus Carrow was this bad, he held little hope for Alecto.

**---------------------------------**

But as bad as Amycus was, Alecto was even worse. Alecto was just a bitch from the moment Neville walked in the door to the class. He was surprised to see so many people there. It was then he remembered something about Snape saying that it was now a mandatory class. At least they had the class with Hufflepuffs. Neville liked the Hufflepuffs. They were really nice people.

Neville sat down at one of the desks in the middle, since all the desks in the back were taken. He looked around the room and really did not like what he was seeing at all. Seamus was still shaken up from Defense Against the Dark Arts and Dean, Parvati and Lavender were trying to calm him down.

And the Hufflepuffs seemed to be content talking among each other. Neville was almost surprised to see Justin Finch-Flechley there as he had been when he first saw Dean. He knew for a fact that he was a muggleborn wizard. He had been attacked by the Basalisk in his second year when the Chamber of Secrets was opened. He had been probably one of the proudest Muggleborn students in the school. Then it hit him, he probably was another rescuee like Dean had been.

But why anyone would want to come back to Hogwarts, let alone a Muggleborn student was beyond him. The Ministry wanted them all rounded up and expelled or thrown into Azkaban. This was the worst place for them to be right now. Neville knew if he was in their position, there was no way anyone would know where he was. He'd run. He didn't want to go to Azkaban.

Alecto walked in and Neville swore he felt the temperature drop at least ten degrees. At first he thought that Amycus was back to teach this class until the woman began speaking with a slightly higher voice. Her and her brother looked exactly the same. Short and ugly. And ugly was a nice term to use.

"Welcome to Muggle Studies class," she said, a positively evil grin on her face. "I'm glad to see the amazing turn out! You're here to learn about the exciting world of Muggles."

Neville saw both Dean and Justin move a bit uncomfortably, not liking this woman one bit. "Muggles are quite easily the stupidest creatures on this planet. Racist and scared."

"That's not true!" Hannah Abbott shouted out. Neville wasn't quite sure, but he was pretty sure she was half-blooded so she was safe.

"Excuse me Miss—"

Hannah didn't supply her with a name she just glared up at her. "Muggles are just scared because of what bad wizards and witches did to them!"

"Detention Miss… Miss…"

"Abbott," Hannah snapped.

"Abbott, and keep your mouth shut in my class, or I will shut it for you, understood?"

All she got in response was a glare from the Hufflepuff. He could see Ernie's hand reaching under the desk to squeeze Hannah's to get the girl to calm down.

"Now where was I…" Alecto continued. She continued ranting and raving about how Muggles were a waste of space and didn't deserve to live on this planet as long as wizards were there… and all this other derogatory stuff. It made Neville's blood boil, but he kept his mouth shut. He didn't want to spend another class like Defense… not at all.

But he knew that if that woman kept up like this, it wouldn't be long before Neville lost his cool.

But that day would come… probably sooner rather than later.

But this… this was just… wrong…

**---------------------------------**

**A/n:** I think I've noticed that I don't actually have a set length for how long the chapters are. I just write until I find a nice ending point.

So leave some love. I like getting reviews… they make the day at work go a bit faster.


	5. Detentions and Breakfast

**Neville Longbottom and the True Rumors**

**---------------------------------**

**Summary: **Everyone knows what happened to Harry in Deathly Hallows, but not much is known about the occurrences at Hogwarts. What really went down at Hogwarts while Harry was off Horcrux hunting?

**A/n:** Gracias por las revisiones. They are all greatly appreciated. Sorry about the length of this one. I had writers block.

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter is not mine. If it was… well it wouldn't be called Harry Potter… because I am madly in love with secondary and/or unimportant characters

**---------------------------------**

**Chapter 4:** Detentions and Breakfast

**---------------------------------**

Detention the next night was not as horrible as Neville had been expecting it. Since it was run by Amycus and Alecto Carrow, he was expecting the worst. It was basically lines. Writing them, over and over and over again.

Neville got to write "I will not talk back…"

They were there for hours. Hannah Abbott broke first as she dropped the quill and massaged her hand for a brief few seconds. But Alecto noticed. Suddenly, Hannah's cried filled the room. It looked like her hand was literally on fire as she tried to make it stop. Seamus stopped writing and looked over at her. "Stop shakin' it…" he hissed. He was the one sitting closest to Hannah.

Hannah listened, but fear filled her eyes. "It burns!!"

"Hit it on the table…" Seamus whispered, trying to get the girl to calm down. Neville knew that they had actually dated for a while. A short while, but a while none the less.

It didn't work. "It burns!!" She whispered again, trying to put it out.

Seamus reached out for her hand, but was pulled back sharply by Alecto grabbing his hair and pulling it up. "Of course it burns sweetheart, it is a punishment…" she smiled.

The smile made Neville sick, but he kept writing. His heart was pounding. Don't hurt them… stop hurting them… that was cruel and unusual punishment.

"Would you like to join her?" Alecto smiled, waving her wand. "Because I can help you do that…"

Seamus shook his head vigorously was Hannah's hand fire suddenly went out.

"I thought so," she grinned as she forced his head just an inch away from the table. "NOW WRITE! And I will see you on Thursday as well…"

**---------------------------------**

Neville kept his silence through the detention and they were out of there by eleven. Seamus walked close to Hannah and Neville could hear them talking.

"You okay?" Seamus asked, his voice soft and tired.

The girl was just looking at her hand. It still burned, but there was no evidence that it had been on fire.

"Come on, I'll take you to the infirmary… get some cooling spells on it, it'll be good as new…"

He got a whimper as a response from the girl and soon they were out of sight and Neville was walking back to his common room. Alone.

**---------------------------------**

It was quite possibly the slowest three weeks of Neville Longbottom's life. He kept his mouth shut as to not get any more detentions. He didn't speak to almost anyone. He only ever really spoke to Luna and Ginny, and he had so much homework even that rarely happened.

But was a bright and sunny Friday morning when the Great Hall's Breakfast was interrupted. Interrupted by dementors. It suddenly got so cold in the Great Hall that Neville was shivering. They floated over to the Hufflepuff table and Neville had to look away.

But he heard everything. Snape. "Mr. Finch-Flechley, I'd like you to get up and accompany me out of the school."

"W-why…" Justin whispered, shaking. He sounded terrified. Neville couldn't stop himself from imagining the scene. Justin was sitting with Hannah, Ernie, and Susan at the Hufflepuff table like he did at breakfast every morning. The dementors were surrounding him, Snape, and the Carrows. Just Snape and the Carrows was enough to scare Neville.

Amycus took over for Snape. "You are under arrest for lying to the Ministry of Magic and claiming that your father was a squib. You are to go to Azkaban without a fight or face the penalties… now get up…"

Silence flooded the Great Hall and Neville saw Dean's eyes go wide. He knew that Justin and Dean were in the same boat. Both saved by the Order. Now Justin was going to Azkaban. Sure the Order saved him a month or so in there, but what difference did it make in the long run? The dementors could get a person in a few days.

"I SAID GET UP!" Amycus shouted, his words echoing around the hall.

"Justin!" Susan's soft voice came. Her voice shook as Neville forced himself to turn and look. Justin stood up slowly, all color drained from his face. The tall teenager was shaking like crazy and Susan was gripping his hand for dear life.

Amycus grabbed Justin and pulled his hand out of Susan's before starting to lead Justin out of the hall. Justin looked like he was gonna be sick. And Neville didn't blame him. He was surrounded by dementors and three of the most vile people Neville had ever met.

The next thing any one knew, Justin had collapsed on the ground. Neville fought the urge to go help him. Sure they weren't the greatest friends… but Neville always did get along with all the Hufflepuffs. Especially when it came to Herbology.

And Justin had been his partner in Herbology the past two years.

"Justin!" It was more than just Susan calling his name and getting up to go over to him. It was quite a few other Hufflepuffs.

They were stopped by Alecto.

"Stop…" Justin whispered. Obviously the dementors were affecting him horribly.

Soon Amycus and another Azkaban official grabbed Justin and drug him out of the Great Hall.

Silence.

Dead silence.

Classes were exceptionally difficult that day. They did nothing in Herbology, even thought the N.E.W.T.s were coming up. Professor Sprout seemed hit hard. The air around Hogwarts was as if Justin had died. It was saddening and fearful. Susan (his other partner in Herbology) just ended up sobbing on Neville's shoulder through most of Herbology and Free Period that day. Neville just let her.

He didn't know what exactly to do in the situation. So he just let things go, rubbing her back every now and then to try and get her to calm down. It was only a few minutes before the end of Herbology that Susan finally let go of him. He was completely oblivious to the ring on her left hand. He never really noticed stuff like that.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her eyes all red and puffy. "Justin and I…"

"Shhhh," Neville whispered, fighting the urge to wipe away the girl's tears. He hated seeing girls cry. "Harry'll come… and he'll fix everything. Just give it time."

Neville was running on that one single hope. That Harry would show up and defeat Voldemort and everything would be back to normal again. It had to happen.

But Neville was beginning to wonder slightly as the bell rang signaling the end of Free Period if Harry would really come back. Things were getting worse and worse.

And hope was only so strong.

**---------------------------------**

**A/n:** Once again, I'm not really happy with how the chapter turned out, but it just a set up.

Leave some love!


	6. The Escapees

**apterNeville Longbottom and the True Rumors**

**---------------------------------**

**Summary: **Everyone knows what happened to Harry in Deathly Hallows, but not much is known about the occurrences at Hogwarts. What really went down at Hogwarts while Harry was off Horcrux hunting?

**A/n:** Gracias por las revisiones. They are all greatly appreciated. This chapter was written under the influence of Imatrex and a bad headache…

Just as a heads up, if I don't write tonight, there will not be an update until probably Wednesday morning.

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter is not mine. If it was… well it wouldn't be called Harry Potter… because I am madly in love with secondary and/or unimportant characters

**---------------------------------**

**Chapter 5:** The Escapees

**---------------------------------**

Hope came crashing down that evening in the Gryffindor Common Room. It came crashing down and shattered into a million pieces with just two words.

"I'm leaving."

Wait… wait… no…

"You can't leave!" Seamus said, voicing Neville's opinion very loudly.

"Yes I can, look at what just happened to Justin!" Dean snapped as he grabbed some of his more important stuff and put it in a backpack.

"Justin got caught, you won't!" Seamus was almost pleading with his best friend to stay. He knew how close the two of them were. Sometimes Neville had to wonder who were better friends, Harry and Ron, or Dean and Seamus.

Dean just shook his head. "I can't stay, I can't risk that…" He looked at Seamus. "I can't risk you…"

"Me?" Seamus asked slowly. "What do I have anythin' to do with this!?"

Dean gave him a look. "It's your uncle! I don't want your family caught up in something just to save my ass!"

Things fell silent for a while and Neville just watched the two of them. He could fully understand exactly where dean was coming from with this, but he understood Seamus' argument too.

"Dean… we wouldn't have offered if we didn't want to…" Seamus finally said, his voice forced.

"I know that, I and appreciate it Seamus, but… I need to get out of here. I'm sorry…" Dean was looking at the ground rather than at his best friend.

Seamus looked like he still wanted to fight until Dean finally looked up at him. The look in Dean's eyes were devastating. He didn't want to leave Hogwarts, but at the same time, fear was forcing him to.

"Just… be careful?" Seamus asked slowly.

Dean responded only by hugging his best friend tightly. He looked like he was about to cry. Seamus slowly returned the hug. Neville felt like a horrible outsider, witnessing something that was supposed to be private.

Dean broke the hug and looked at Seamus nodding. "I will… this'll be over soon though… I can feel it…"

Seamus bit his lip. "Don't go getting yourself killed…"

Neville felt so awkward.

Dean smiled and turned to Neville. "Keep looking on the bright side. Harry'll save the day, like he always does."

Neville just nodded and then watched as Dean left. He didn't know how he was going to get out of the school, or what Dean was going to do, but Neville tried to keep hope.

After a few minutes of tense and awkward silence, Neville broke it. "Dean'll be fine," Neville said confidently.

Seamus didn't respond to him as the other teenager climbed into his bed and closed the curtains. Wonderful.

**---------------------------------**

The next day was probably the longest day of Neville's life. Seamus wouldn't talk to anyone (even when Hannah came up to him to talk… nothing). No one said anything about Dean's absence. Neville realized they probably didn't want to say anything about it. He felt so bad for Seamus though. His eyes moved over to Luna at the Ravenclaw table. With the new tight security he barely got a chance to talk to her. He flashed a smile at her, and she smiled back.

And things felt like they were going to be okay. Even if just for that one second.

And it did last just that second as they were all ushered to the next class. Dark Arts.

Oh hell no. The class had quickly become his least favorite. Amycus Carrow was the scum of the universe. The only people Neville could think of that could be ranked above him would be Voldemort, Bellatrix Lestrange, and Alecto Carrow. Even Snape was better than Amycus Carrow.

He didn't want to go to the class and was tempted to get a Skiving Snackbox. Just for Dark Arts and Muggle Studies. He couldn't stand them anymore. He sometimes actually bit his tongue to keep from speaking out in Muggle Studies.

But he didn't last too long in Dark Arts today. He walked in and sat down next to Seamus. Seamus was just staring blankly at the front of the room. He looked like crap, and that was putting it lightly. Neville really hoped he would come around soon.

"Longbottom," Amycus snapped. "Get your fat ass up here."

Neville bit his tongue to say something nasty to Amycus as he stood up and walked up to the desk as the bell rang.

"Oooo Longbottom's in trouble," Pansy Parkinson grinned evilly.

As usual, Amycus did nothing about the Slytherin's taunts. He handed Neville a slip of paper. "Headmaster Snape wants to see you, in his office… now…"

Neville could feel his muscles tensing. He had avoided the slimy git for the longest time, but he knew he couldn't avoid it forever.

"NOW LONGBOTTOM!" he snapped, causing Neville to jump as he left.

While he loved the idea of getting out of that horrid class, he would rather be there than in Snape's office.

He walked slowly, almost as if he was walking to his death. He looked at the ground as he walked, fear echoing within him with every step. Every step he took was a step closer to Snape's office, and whatever horrors were in store for him there.

Step. Step. Step.

He didn't know which was louder, his steps or his heart. He could feel it wanting to jump out of his chest as he made it to the office and walked up the steps. He didn't realize it, but he was shaking, fear taking over him.

But when the door to the office opened, Severus Snape was not there.

No. He was face to face with Bellatrix Lestrange.

**---------------------------------**

**A/n:** DUN DUN DUN!!!!!!!

Hopefully I can type up the next chapter before I leave. That was a horrible spot to end. Teehee.

Leave some love!


	7. Questioning Bellatrix

**Neville Longbottom and the True Rumors**

**---------------------------------**

**Summary: **Everyone knows what happened to Harry in Deathly Hallows, but not much is known about the occurrences at Hogwarts. What really went down at Hogwarts while Harry was off Horcrux hunting?

**A/n:** Gracias por las revisiones. They are all greatly appreciated. I couldn't leave y'all with that horrid cliff hanger. So I posted.

This sorta breaks from the actual plot of DH, but I think it is a bit necessary.

Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter is not mine. If it was Fred Weasley would NOT have died.

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**Chapter 6:** Questioning Bellatrix

**---------------------------------**

Run. That was Neville's original reaction to coming face to face with Bellatrix Lestrange, but the door slammed behind him, stopping his only path of exit.

Bellatrix was smiling at him, her wand pointed right at him. "We just have some questions to ask you Longbottom," she grinned wickedly. "You give us the right answers… it will be relatively painless…"

Neville couldn't stop the words from the words spilling out of his mouth. "The right answers… or the answers you're looking for?"

That earned him a harsh backhand that split his lip. "Tell me Longbottom, where's Potter hiding. We know you're close."

Neville wanted to laugh. Close? Try forced together at points. Harry was always closer to Ron and Hermione, and only really talked to Neville when necessary.

"Dunno…" he responded simply, trying to hide his fear, but it wasn't working out too well.

"_Crucio…"_ Bellatrix hissed and Neville knew better than to dodge it. Especially with so many other people in the room, all looking like they wanted to kill him.

The spell hit Neville and he couldn't help but scream in response to it. It was the worst pain he had even been in in his entire life. Like white hot irons were all over him, and he couldn't get them off. He struggled against it, eyes shut in pain.

Make it stop. Please… make it stop.

Neville's screams echoed through the office until Bellatrix finally took the curse off him. She was getting yelled at from all the portraits in the room.

Neville was shaking on the ground, looking up at Bellatrix. "Now where is he?"

"I… dunno…" he rasped, his words coming out just a little more than a whisper.

"LIAR!" Bellatrix shouted before cursing him again. This time Neville actually rose up in the air, his back bending… he just wanted it to end. He didn't care how, he just wanted it over.

Bellatrix threw him into the nearby wall, nearly knocking Neville out. "Come on Longbottom, I know you know where he is… just tell me and this'll all be over…"

"Dunno…" he seethed through the curse.

He didn't know how much longer this would last… was this what happened to his parents? Was this how they lost their mind? Just like this? Bellatrix interrogating them about something they had no idea about? And she just got worse when they wouldn't give her the answers she was looking for.

"Come on Longbottom…" she repeated.

"I dunno…" he whispered. "I dunno… I dunno…"

The door suddenly slammed open and Severus Snape entered his office. "What are you doing!?" he snapped at Bellatrix as Bellatrix took the curse off Neville and the poor boy slumped against the wall. He could barely move more than his eyes. They traveled around the room.

"The Dark Lord knows Longbottom knows where Potter is…" Bellatrix said coolly, calmly. "He sent me here to get the information out of him."

Snape shook his head. "You will not torture students in my office!"

"Then we'll move this elsewhere…" Bellatrix snapped as two strong arms grabbed Neville and hauled him up. His knees failed him as he nearly fell again, but the two Death Eaters wouldn't let him fall.

"Lestrange, I already questioned Longbottom using the Veritaserum. He doesn't know where Potter is, and that is good enough for the Dark Lord."

Wait… he did? When?

"Going soft Snape?" Bellatrix laughed.

"No, I don't see a point to torture anyone when there is no point. Longbottom has done nothing wrong as far as I'm concerned. Now please get out of my office. You're not permitted to be here without my permission anyways. Besides, I am quite sure you have better uses of your time than to worry about a student."

Bellatrix glared at Snape before the other Death Eaters allowed Neville to fall painfully to the ground. They left.

"Get up," Snape snapped at Neville, grabbing his arm and lifting him up slowly, leading him over to a chair to sit down. The man walked over to a shelf and Neville slumped in the chair. he could still feel the effects of the curse long after it was off of him.

His eyes moved around the room while Snape's back was turned to him. He had never been in the Headmaster's Office, and it didn't look very welcoming. He saw the grinning portrait of Dumbledore looking at him, it winked and waved. His eyes then moved over to a trophy case and he saw a ruby encrusted sword.

It sounded like the one Ginny had talked about. The sword of Godric Gryffindor. The one that she was angry about because it rightfully belonged to Harry. What was it doing at Hogwarts?

He didn't get much of a chance to look any more as Snape reappeared in front of him with a vial of some purple liquid.

"Take it and get back to your dormitory. No questions. Now."

Who was Neville to question that as he downed the potion. It took a few moments, but he felt better almost immediately.

He looked at Snape for a while. Did Snape just help him? That didn't make any sense. "Thanks…" he whispered.

Snape ignored him for a while, sitting at his desk. "Get out of my sight Longbottom," he said coolly, not even looking at Neville as he left and went back to his dormitory. He made it just in time before he fell into a deep sleep. Whatever Snape gave him, it was some nice stuff.

**---------------------------------**

When he woke up, the sun had already set as he walked slowly down to the common room. He was kinda hungry.

"NEVILLE!!!" He was greeted by Ginny shouting his name and running over and hugging him. "We were all worried," she said quickly. "When Lavender said you were pulled out of Carrow's class and then you weren't seen since… oh Neville…"

Neville was a bit confused as Ginny let go of him. He didn't even know what time it was, just that he was hungry… and still felt like crap, but he wasn't as bad as he was before.

"What happened?"

Neville explained what happened slowly, tiredly.

"That bitch!" was Ginny's reaction to it. Well that summed Bellatrix Lestrange up pretty well, didn't it? A wicked wicked bitch.

Neville chuckled weakly. "You could call her that."

The two fell into silence for a few moments before Ginny looked around. "But you saw the sword?"

"Yeah?" Neville nodded slowly.

"The one Harry pulled out of the hat your second year?"

"I… I think…" Neville said slowly.

The two looked at each other for a while before they knew what they had to do. That sword belonged to Harry, not Snape.

They had to get it back.

**---------------------------------**

**A/n:** Well, I updated, I hope that wasn't too crappy. I know I didn't do anything with the Ginny/Neville friendship before this, but it was kinda just fluffly stuff that wasn't important to the plot so I didn't include it.

Anyways. Next update will be hopefully Wednesday morning. And we're back on actual plot from the book. Heehee.

Leave some love!


	8. Dumbledore

**Neville Longbottom and the True Rumors**

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**Summary: **Everyone knows what happened to Harry in Deathly Hallows, but not much is known about the occurrences at Hogwarts. What really went down at Hogwarts while Harry was off Horcrux hunting?

**A/n:** Thanks for the reviews! They make me happy. As for the 'new' characters introduced… they've been there the whole time (YAY HP-LEXICON), but never mentioned in the books.

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter is not mine. If it was Fred Weasley would NOT have died.

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**Chapter 7:** Dumbledore's Army (Reprise)

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The next day, Neville was talking to Ginny at breakfast, ignoring the looks from Amycus and Alecto. "We need to come up with a plan… you talk to Luna today… meet in the Room of Requirement right after dinner…"

Ginny nodded as she ate. Neville's eyes scanned the Great Hall slowly, resting on Luna for a few moments. She wasn't talking to anyone and just playing with her Butterbeer Cap Necklace. It made him chuckle gently before he went back to eating slowly. Today would be an easy day for Neville. He had Double Herbology, and then free time.

He loved these days more than any other. He didn't have to put up with the Carrows, and he got to work with his plants. Neville decided that he would just enjoy these moments as much as he possibly could. They made him happy, so he wasn't going to let anything ruin that for him. As long as he had something that could keep him happy here, he could put up with the Carrows.

At least for now.

**---------------------------------**

Dinner came too fast today for Neville's liking. These days always went far too fast. He would just spend the whole time in the greenhouse, talking to Professor Sprout or Susan. All three of them shared the love for Herbology.

The Great Hall was oddly silent that evening as they ate. Neville felt a strange feeling in his stomach keeping him from eating too much. He didn't know why exactly he was being to stupid… it was just a meeting with Ginny and Luna. It was not unlike what he would do the past year, or even on the train.

But he did feel obnoxiously nervous, his stomach turning into knots and making every single piece of food on his plate look disgustingly unappetizing.

Soon everyone got up and went to head back to the common room. Neville wasn't heading there though, he was heading to the Room of Requirement, to talk to Ginny and Luna. That's all.

He was stopped before he got out of the Great Hall though. "Mr. Longbottom…" Neville tensed only for a second before he realized it was just Professor McGonagall. One could actually see the teenager relaxing.

"Yes ma'am?" he asked slowly, looking at her.

The woman's eyes bore into his for a few moments. It looked like she was fighting to say something, but at the same time, she wanted to keep it a secret. "Professor?"

McGonagall blinked a few times and shook her head. "Sorry Longbottom, must've spaced out a little bit there. I just uh…" A soft sigh escaped her. Neville had never seen her like this, it was a bit odd.

"Are you okay Professor?"

"Perfectly fine Mr. Longbottom," she said with a small smile. "Be careful Neville…"

And then she walked away. Okay, now talk about awkward. He really had no idea what that was about, and he actually watched the head of his house walk back to the head table before he realized he was late for his meeting with Ginny and Luna and headed to the Room of Requirement.

He almost got lost along the way, and had to take a detour because he heard Alecto Carrow talking to Professor Snape and didn't need to get caught right now. He really wished he had that map of Harry's right now.

But he made it there, hoping to find Ginny and Luna… he walked and walked before he stopped as the door appeared. He sighed in relief as he opened the door.

But he was shocked when he walked in there, and there were at least twenty kids in there. Ginny looked at him apologetically as he walked in and the door closed behind him.

"What's going on?" he asked Ginny.

"Sorry," she said slowly. "Jeremy overheard me telling Luna about this meeting, and people… people thought we were starting the D.A. again."

Neville just looked at Ginny, a shocked expression on his face. As much as he loved the D.A. and how much it helped him through his fifth year and helped him break out of his shell, the D.A. was non-existant without Harry.

He finally broke his gaze and looked around at the students that had shown here. There were a great deal of Gryffindors, and a handful of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. He saw the Patil twins, Lavender and Seamus. Terry Boot, Hannah Abbot, Ernie Macmillian, Susan Bones, Michael Corner, and a few kids that Neville had never seen before. It was like a new D.A., with a lack of the students that Neville came used to having in the D.A.

He slowly shook his head. "Sorry guys…" he said as he looked down at the ground. "The D.A.'s done.."

The room was silent for a while before Ernie spoke up. "No it isn't.." he said slowly. "We all came here for a reason. We need to stop this, the takeover of Hogwarts, and the best way to stop it is from the inside out, because we're getting no outside help on this."

Neville stared at Ernie. "The takeover of Hogwarts has happened, we just need to wait for Harry—"

Ernie cut him off abruptly. "Harry isn't coming, he's not going to help us. We need to help ourselves for once instead of always relying on Harry!"

He had a point. "We don't have a leader."

This time Seamus spoke up. "I say we do…" he stated simply, looking right at Neville. It took a few moments for Seamus's words to sink in.

Neville shook his head again. "No, I can't…"

"Come on Neville," Hannah Abbott chimed in. "You'll be a great leader."

He continued shaking his head despite Hannah's words. "No, this is suicide, we can't do this.."

Suddenly Luna was standing right next to him as Susan softly spoke. "It's murder if we don't."

Her words hit hard. Harder than Ernie, Seamus, or Hannah's. She had a point, if they didn't do this, more people were going to be tortured, more people were going to die. They could… do this… couldn't they.

"You don't have to do it alone Neville," Ginny said as she grabbed Neville's hand and squeezed it. "I can help."

"Me too…" Luna chimed in.

It was a few more moments of silence before Neville nodded. "Fine. But this is going to be… hard…"

"We know," Terry Boot sighed. "But something needs to be done."

That it did.

The rest of the meeting was spent planning what they were going to do with the D.A. They decided on rotating meetings to keep from being discovered. Everyone seemed to be almost too supportive of Neville in the position as the sort of 'head' of Dumbledore's Army. He was going to have help from Ginny and Luna, but they were just there in case something happened.

Neville was actually kinda shocked at the amount of support he was getting from everyone else. But it made him feel good, feel important, like he was doing something to help.

They all left the Room of Requirement, all thoughts of Gryffindor's Sword pushed out of Neville's mind right now.

They were going to fight back. And it wasn't going to be pretty.

**---------------------------------**

**A/n:** Leave some love!


	9. The Sword of Godric Gryffindor

**Neville Longbottom and the True Rumors**

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**Summary: **Everyone knows what happened to Harry in Deathly Hallows, but not much is known about the occurrences at Hogwarts. What really went down at Hogwarts while Harry was off Horcrux hunting?

**A/n:** Thanks for the reviews! They make me happy. I would have posted this morning,but I got sick last night and couldn't write. And yay! I've hit over 100 reviews! Keep it up guys!!

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter is not mine. If it was Fred Weasley would NOT have died.

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**Chapter 8:** The Sword of Godric Gryffindor

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The next evening, Ginny and Luna sat in the Room of Requirement with Neville. It was much smaller than it was the previous evening and Luna and Neville were sitting on a small couch while Ginny was on a chair right across from them. Normally Neville would have figured that Luna and Ginny would have taken the chair, but Luna came right in and sat down next to Neville. And it wasn't a very large couch either.

"We need to get that sword for Harry. It deosn't belong to Snape, there is no reason he should have it," Ginny explained, Neville noticing the hint of anger in her voice as well as all over her face. She was livid.

"It's in Snape's office…" Neville sighed, "There is no way in there…"

"Of course there is," Ginny smiled. "We have to go up there when Snape's not there."

"When isn't Snape there?" Luna asked.

"During meals he's always sitting at the center of the table like the pompus idiot he is. That's when we'll do it."

"Someone'll notice we're not there to eat…" Neville sighed.

Ginny sent a glare his way. "Are you going to help or just be Mr. Pessimist the entire time?"

Neville was silent for a few moments before he responded: "I'm not being a pessimist, I'm being a realist."

"Same difference!"

A tense silence filled the room. Neville looked from Ginny to Luna, his eyes lingering on her. As soon as her eyes moved to meet his, he looked right back over at Ginny.

After a few tense minutes, he finally just spoke. "Fine. We'll do it."

"Thank you," Ginny sighed as she looked at her two best friends. "We just need a plan."

**---------------------------------**

The rest of the evening was spent coming up with exactly what they were going to do to get the sword of Godric Gryffindor out of Snape's possession and then how to get it to Harry even if no one knew where it was. It was just… that was what was supposed to happen. Dumbledore left the sword to Harry, not to Snape.

They put their plan into action the next night. The three of them skipped dinner and met at the library, going over their plan one more time before sneaking towards Snape's office. The halls were deserted because of the fact that everyone was at dinner. And Snape made some sort of new rule that everyone had to be present at all meals or face punishment.

They were breaking more rules than Neville Longbottom cared to even think about, but he just kept going along with the plan. Dumbledore gave it to Harry for a reason, it might have something to do with defeating Voldemort. And if that was the case, the sooner Harry got it the better.

The trio were soon at the entrance to Snape's office. Oh Neville knew it well. It was at the top of these steps that he met Bellatrix Lestrange just a few days ago. Where she probably would have tortured him to insanity if Snape hadn't stepped in. He almost felt bad stealing from him after the man helped him so much.

It was for Harry.

He just had to keep reminding himself of that fact. Get the sword, help defeat Voldemort… help save the world.

He looked up the steps. He was leading the way, even though he didn't want to. He took a deep breath and started up them, terrified of what he might find once he reached the top. The steps seemed so much longer than they had been not so long ago. Maybe it was just mind games, his mind just playing tricks on him, but he really was scared.

He finally reached the top of the steps and stood at the door. He felt Luna grip his shoulder and he turned to look at her.

"Just do it Neville," she smiled. That seemed to give Neville the confidence boost he needed as he reached his hand to open the door, expecting it to be locked. But it wasn't! The door just opened with a soft click, revealing Snape's office.

Neville slowly walked in, looking around once again as Ginny went right over to the case and looked at it, trying to figure out what the best way would be to open it. Luna was also looking around, she had obviously never been in the office.

Dumbeldore waved at Neville again. "Back so soon Neville?" the portait asked.

Neville shook his head. "No sir…" He looked down, not wanting to admit that he was stealing something from a Hogwarts Headmaster. Even if Snape was a greay git.

"Neville, do you know how to break charms?" Ginny asked, as she stole his attention away from the portrait of Dumbledore and over towards the red head.

"Maybe, why?"

"There are some pretty strong charms on here, I don't think I can break them alone."

Neville just looked at her. He wasn't that good at Charms. He wasn't the bottom of his N.E.W.T. level class, but he certainly wasn't at the top. He nodded slowly and walked over to her, pulling out his wand and the two of them got to work under the gaze of all the past Hogwarts Heads. It took them a few minutes, but he finally cracked it and the door opened. Ginny grabbed the sword. "Let's get outta here!" she whispered urgently as he looked around. He spotted a clock. They still had time, but Neville didn't want to get caught, not at all.

He grabbed Luna by the arm (she was happily chatting with some of the portraits on the wall), and tugged her out of the room. Ginny was trying to conceal the large weapon as she hurried down the steps. Neville was amazed that the girl didn't fall and break something with the way she was fidgeing with the sword while running down the steps.

"Ginny…" he hissed as he heard the door open. Oh no. This was bad. This was really bad. Ginny stopped just in time to see Alecto and Amycus Carrow walk up the steps with a horrible smile on their face. Aleco grabbed Luna and Amycus grabbed Ginny. Neville (with a split-second thought) grabbed the sword from Ginny and ducked around Amycus and Alecto and ran down the steps.

He actually thought he was going to make it for a second before a Body Binding Spell hit him and he fell to the ground, the sword clattering a few feet away from him.

He felt someone kick him to turn him over and he came face to face with Severus Snape. And he didn't look happy.

**---------------------------------**

**A/n:** Leave some love!


	10. Punishment

**Neville Longbottom and the True Rumors**

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**Summary: **Everyone knows what happened to Harry in Deathly Hallows, but not much is known about the occurrences at Hogwarts. What really went down at Hogwarts while Harry was off Horcrux hunting?

**A/n:** Thanks for the reviews! I didn't get as many as I sorta hoped. But… whatever. Was the last chapter that horrible?

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter is not mine. If it was Fred Weasley would NOT have died.

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**Chapter 9**: Punishment

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Severus Snape grabbed the Sword of Gryffindor and then glared down at Neville. He took the Body Bind curse off of him and grabbed him harshky by the shoulder and lifting him up. His body burned from the fall, and he almost fell on the sword, and then it could have been bye-bye Neville.

"Up!" he drawled coolly. Well he didn't have much of a choice after Snape pretty much pulled him to his feet. He looked up the steps and that fear came back. "Now!" Neville slowly began limping up the steps, he could feel Snape's eyes borring into his back as he walked. He walked pretty quicky considering Snape was right behind him. He didn't want to know what happened to Ginny and Luna. Especially since they had been grabbed by the Carrows. And they were some scary people.

Snape pushed him angrily into his office, the door slamming behind him. He felt his heart drop when he saw Luna and Ginny being held tightly by Amycus and Alecto Carrow. The siblings had a horrible grin on their faces (making them look even uglier). "Let them go," Snape snapped.

The Carrows seemed disappointed as the let go of Ginny and Luna. Snape seemed to glare at all of them. "Sit."

Neville didn't need telling twice as he sat down. Luna sat down next to him almost immediately and Neville could see the fear written all over her face. He reached over and grabbed her hand. He never felt Luna grip his hand so hard. He tried to squeeze it back almost reassuringly, but there wasn't any feeling in his hand to squeeze back.

Snape saved him before, he could do it again, right? "Explain yourselves."

No one answered. "Now!"

"That sword isn't yours! It belongs to Harry!" Neville snapped, but then he realized what he said and looked down immediately.

"So that gives you reason to steal from the Headmaster of Hogwarts?" Snape asked coolly. "That gives me means to expel the lot of you."

He heard Luna let out a small whimper as the Carrows walked around behind Snape to get a better look at the three trouble makers. Even Neville had to squirm under their gaze. They looked so evil. The smile on their face was sickening.

The room fell silent. "But I'm not going to expel you," he said slowly, his gaze settling on Neville. "No, you're going to get detention."

Detention!? Neville knew right now that he would rather die than go through a Carrow detention. He had heard horror stories from people who weren't being as well behaved as Neville. What those horrible Death Eaters put people through. Neville was just getting sicker and sicker as silence took them over again.

"You will be spending Friday night into Saturday in the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid."

Wait… what? That… that didn't seem like a detention, that…

"Excuse me?" Amycus said, pulling Neville out of his thoughts. "We are in charge of the punishment at this school."

"But you are under my control, I can and will overrule you if I feel a different punishment is necessary," Snape drawled. Neville was a bit confused again. Was Snape trying to help them? Why else would he give them a detention in the Forbidden Forest with their favorite professor?

Neville shifted in his seat as he felt Luna's grip on his hand loosen, but only slightly. He managed to squeeze it lightly, even though he was sure that she broke at least two of his bones if not more.

"Detention Friday night. You will meet Hagrid in the Great Hall, and he will go over your further punishment from there. Is that understood?"

The three of them answered in unison. "Yes sir."

"Good, now get out of my sight!"

Neville didn't need telling twice as he stood up, pulling Luna up along with him. Ginny got up as well. Neville couldn't help himself as he looked at the Carrows. They looked disappointed, and why wouldn't they be, Snape conned them out of the a detention with three of their 'favorite' students.

They slowly walked down the steps, Neville's hand still in Luna's. He didn't feel like letting go, therefore he didn't. He liked the way that his hand felt in hers. The reassurance he felt when he was with her. Like they were gonna all be okay. He squeezed her hand again, making a smile form on her face. As soon as they were out of earshot from Snape's Office, Ginny let out a laugh.

"Detention with Hagrid, is he crazy?"

Neville didn't say anything. Even with Hagrid the Forbidden Forest was a bad idea, a very bad idea. It was dangerous. But it was better than anything with the Carrows. The Carrows were… he couldn't even describe them.

They were soon at the junction where he and Ginny had to go one way and Luna had to go the other. The two of them finally let go of each other, almost mutually. It seemed like both of them didn't mind the other one holding their hand, as if it wasn't that big of a deal (but in Neville's book it was a pretty big deal, especially the way it made his heart flutter when she let go and smiled at him).

"Goodnight Neville," she said slowly. She still seemed a little scared, but there was a small smile on her face. "Ginerva," she added as an afterthought.

"'Night Luna," Neville said slowly as she walked away. Neville couldn't help but watch her leave. She was really pretty, at least in Neville's opinion.

"Hey, Neville," Ginny said quickly. "Let's go before the Carrows come and give us detention for loitering."

Neville nodded as he turned back to Ginny and they started walking towards the Gryffindor Common Room.

"So what's going on between you and Luna?" she asked innocently as they walked.

Neville didn't respond. He wasn't sure. Maybe it was just the stress of the situation pushed them to just comfort each other. That was just it, nothing more than Neville's wishful thinking. Everyone knew that Luna liked Ron, even if she didn't make it that obvious. It was there.

"Earth to Neville…" Ginny sighed as she waved her hand in front of his face.

Neville looked at her.. "Huh?"

"You and Luna?"

"Fiddlesticks…" Neville said slowly, Ginny giving him a confused look, but they were right at the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room, and that was the password.

When they entered the Common Room, the roar was almost deafening with people cheering them on. "Did you really try and steal something from Snape?" a second year asked, looking up at Neville and Ginny in awe.

They looked at each other and chuckled. Well, this was interesting. Neville slowly worked his way back towards the dorms, and it took him a while. People were congratulating him and patting him on the back. This was an odd feeling, was this how Harry felt every time he did something and him and his fellow Gryffindors treated him like a king? It had to be. He couldn't help but be confused that he was getting all this positive attention from attempting to steal something from Snape.

But he couldn't deny… it felt pretty good.

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**A/n:** Originally this was going to be with the detention, but that will be the next chapter. I'm trying to keep these short and sweet so I can update every day (unless I get sick).

Just as a heads up, I lost my notebook with all my DH notes in it, so I need to go through and find them all again. sigh Sorry if there are any inconsistencies in this chapter, I was going totally from memory.

Just a question, does anyone know what happened with Mungos during the Voldemort take over. It might have been mentioned, but I don't recall. So if someone could provide me with that it would be greatly appreciated!

Leave some love (or hate, just something to let me know you're reading)!


	11. Into the Woods

**Neville Longbottom and the True Rumors**

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**Summary: **Everyone knows what happened to Harry in Deathly Hallows, but not much is known about the occurrences at Hogwarts. What really went down at Hogwarts while Harry was off Horcrux hunting?

**A/n:** Thanks for the reviews! Heehee… I always wanted to title a chapter "Into the Woods." I'm such a freaking Broadway loser. Just as a heads up I changed some minor things in past chapters upon remembering the Colin Creevy is a muggleborn. My memory for stuff like that is horrendous. My apologies.

I also apologize that this wasn't up sooner. I got uber writer's block, and discovered I'm not good writing Hagrid…

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter is not mine. If it was Fred Weasley would NOT have died.

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**Chapter 10:** Into the Woods

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But that good feeling didn't last very long. The next day was pure hell for Neville. The Carrows seemed to be going out of their way to make things worse for Neville, but the kid tried his hardest to simply ignore them and go on with what he was supposed to be doing. He would be trekking deep into the Forbidden Forest that night with Hagrid, and even if that was a bit better than a detention with the Carrows, he was still a bit scared. The Forbidden Forest. Not even Hagrid knew about all the wild beasts and creatures that lived in there.

They were soon down at Hagrid's hut, just waiting for Hagrid to come out. Neville could feel his heart racing. He didn't even know why he was so scared, but he just was. The last time he was in the Forbidden Forest… it didn't turn out well.

He slowly closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was with Hagrid, everything would be okay, and it had to be better than the Carrows. Right?

Right?

The door to Hagrid's hut suddenly slammed open. The half-giant looked down at the three of them. "Well why didn'cha knock?" he asked, ushering them into his little house. Neville hadn't thought of that, and obviously neither had Luna or Ginny.

"Sorry…" Neville said as he walked in.

He got no response from Hagrid for a while, but he soon turned around and looked down at them again. "What do yeh think yeh were doin'?" he snapped angrily. "Stealin' from the Headmaster. Yeh wanna be expelled!?"

Neville said nothing.

"That sword is Harry's not Snape's!" Ginny snapped.

"That don' matter! Yeh all are stupid!"

That took Neville by surprise. Hagrid calling them stupid? When did that ever happen before? Never.

Neville stood there and just waited for Hagrid to finish getting everything ready.

"So what are we going to be doing in the forest Hagrid?" Luna asked in that dreamy voice of hers. "Hunting the tracelneg? Their eggs are worth a fortune!"

Neville fought back a smile. Oh leave it to Luna…

"No," Hagrid said simply. "We're collecting unicorn hairs. And yeh're all comin' with me."

Well obviously…

Neville pulled his jacket closer to him as Hagrid grabbed a large lantern. "We'll all be staying together, so no runnin' off!"

The three students nodded vigorously. This hardly seemed like a detention at all. Hanging out with Hagrid all night. Hagrid handed Neville a lantern as well and grabbed Fang and they all went off into the Forbidden Forest.

"It's easier to find them at night… so we'll be out collectin' all nigh' long."

All Neville could do was nod with the other two.

They spent the next few hours searching for unicorn hairs. Neville handed the lantern off to Ginny and kept one hand on his wand at all times. He didn't like the sounds of the forest. He didn't trust this place at all.

Luna was keeping things light. She was constantly commenting about how maybe in the morning they could go searching for the tracelneg in the morning, because her father was pretty sure that there was a large colony of the magical beast living right on the grounds of the school. Neville was sure that she had even started to describe the creature when Hagrid told her to quiet down. He wished Hagrid wouldn't have done that.

Luna was somehow making him feel better. He felt so much more at ease around her. She made him want to laugh. They way she would talk about things that didn't exist while holding a bunch of unicorn hairs in her hand. It almost seemed as if her hair was made of the same matter as the unicorn hair, the way both shimmered in the moonlight.

Walking around the Forbidden Forest in the middle of the night with Luna really made Neville see why exactly he was so in love with Luna. Everything about her was just… perfect. Was there anything imperfect about her? Not in Neville's eyes.

There was a loud crack behind him and Neville spun around, lighting his wand and shining it into the woods. There was nothing there.

Fang whimpered loudly, and Neville's heart began racing again.

But they continued on their hair-hunting trek. Neville was starting to get tired as the night wore on. This was harder than he thought it was going to be. A lot harder. He continued going though, he wasn't going to stop. Not now.

Hagrid continued telling them that it was "Just a bit longer…" and "They'd be done soon." And then it seemed as if he forgot that he had students with him and kept searching, leading them deeper and deeper into the forest.

Neville felt his eyelids drooping. He was so exhausted. It had to be around three in the morning.

SNAP!

That time the noise seemed closer, and was followed by a loud roar. Neville jumped as did Luna (who was standing right next to him). "What was that?" Neville asked slowly.

"Nuthin'," Hagrid muttered.

But it was more than nothing. Suddenly Neville saw eyes peering at him through the forest. He shook his head, trying to make sure he was actually seeing those eyes and it wasn't a figment of his sleepy imagination.

But they were still there.

"H-h-hagrid…" he said his eyes growing wide as the beast suddenly leapt out of the forest with a loud roar. Neville didn't get much of a chance to look at it.

"RUN!" Hagrid roared and Neville didn't need telling twice. He grabbed Luna's arm and drug her in the opposite direction of the beast.

"Neville," Luna hissed as Neville pulled her haphazardly through the forest. He almost tripped a few times as he ran to get away. "That was the tracelneg!" The girl sounded more fascinated than terrified.

Neville didn't care what it was, just that it was angry at them, and probably was hungry. He ran until he couldn't run anymore and collapsed against a tree. Well that was the smartest thing he could have done. Now he had no idea where he was, he had no idea where they were except in the forest, in the middle of the night. It was dark, and now that they were without Hagrid, he was hearing more and more terrifying things.

Luna slowly sat down next to Neville. As Neville caught his breath, he got a chance to look around at what little the moon lit up. They were in a bit of a clearing. Neville thought about sending sparks up, but that might make the creature come back towards them. He had no idea what to do. He tried to think of what Harry would do in this situation. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"We should stay here," Luna said dreamily as she looked up at the sky. There were so many stars. "Better to let them try and find us then both of us running in circles around each other."

Neville had to agree with her. He nodded slowly as his eyes drifted shut.

Luna slowly scooched closer to Neville, shivering. Neville wasn't even sure if making a fire would be a good idea. Sure it would scare some creatures away, but what other creatures would it attract? Neville didn't want to find out. He had his wand in case something came.

He forced his eyes open as he kept looking around the forest. He could see a good distance into the forest before it faded into darkness. Where were Ginny, Hagrid and Fang? Were they safe? Why did he just run off? He should have fought that thing, but when faced with that creature, Neville didn't know what to do but run.

After a few moments in silence, Luna was right next to Neville. He could tell she was cold, even if she didn't say anything.

He shifted slightly and wrapped his arm around her to maybe share a bit of body heat. Luna sleepily cuddled into his arm and Neville could feel her breathing against him. Even in this horrible situation, he couldn't help but smile.

He felt her breathing even out and his eyes were drifting shut as well. His body needed the sleep. But he couldn't sleep, not while they were in the Forbidden Forest, and alone. He forced himself to stay awake, sometimes his eyes drifting down to Luna. She looked so adorable while she was asleep and Neville had to fight the urge to kiss her forehead as she slept. She'd never know, would she?

About an hour passed of Neville scanning the forest for any signs of movement. Things had quieted down. He kept having to push sleep away. That adrenaline rush of running from that creature had long since worn off and now he was more exhausted than before.

"Goodnight Luna," he sighed gently, even though the younger Ravenclaw had been asleep for a while.

Gently, the seventeen year old planted a gentle kiss on the top of her head, knowing that she'd probably never realize that he had done it. But it felt so right. She shifted slightly, burrowing deeper into Neville.

Neville soon found himself unable to fight sleep anymore and he too drifted off to sleep. There was nothing they could do right now. The sun would be rising soon… and Hagrid knew these forests better than anyone.

Hagrid would find them. He had to.

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**A/n**:So I was just curious… am I making Neville to wimpy? I mean I am trying to emphasize his major changes throughout the book that leads up to the final battle of Hogwarts, but is he too wimpy?

Leave some love!


	12. Run Away!

**Neville Longbottom and the True Rumors**

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**Summary: **Everyone knows what happened to Harry in Deathly Hallows, but not much is known about the occurrences at Hogwarts. What really went down at Hogwarts while Harry was off Horcrux hunting?

**A/n:** Thanks for the reviews! I am probably going to try and update every other day rather than every day, that was just getting a bit… hard on my brain.

My idea for the beast comes from James Rollins, an amazing author… go read his stuff.

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter is not mine. If it was Fred Weasley would NOT have died.

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**Chapter 11:** Run Away!

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Neville didn't get much sleep though. He was so exhausted, but when he woke up it was only two hours since he fell asleep. He could see the sky above him lightening as the sun began to peek over the horizons.

He shifted slightly against the tree, and then his heart started beating faster as he realized that he actually had fallen asleep, no matter how hard he had tried the previous night to stay awake. Exhaustion had gotten the better of him. He was so disappointed in himself as he looked down at Luna. They both seemed to be okay, but how in the world could he let himself fall asleep like that? Something could have come and attacked them while they slept.

"Neville!"

His eyes darted around the forest as he heard someone call his name, or at least he thought he did. He continued looking around, but didn't see anything.

"Neville!"

That time it seemed louder. A lot louder. It sounded like Hagrid.

"HAGRID!" he called out.

That woke Luna up. She yawned slowly and looked up at Neville. A slight blush tinged her cheeks and she moved a bit away from Neville.

"Good morning Neville," she said with a small smile. "We're you awake all night?"

He shook his head. "I think I fell asleep."

"Oh," she said softly.

"Neville!" Ginny's voice came through the forest.

"GINNY!!! HAGRID!!!" Neville shouted.

He heard a cracking behind him and turned around, hoping to see Hagrid coming through the forest to get them out of here. But Neville couldn't be more wrong.

"Luna! Neville!" It was Ginny again.

A loud roar came from the forest causing Neville to jump up, pulling his wand out of his pocket. He pulled Luna to her feet. The roar came from their right while the voices were coming from their left. "Run," he whispered as he started running, pulling Luna along. The last thing he wanted was to meet was that… thing. Neville wasn't quite sure what it was, but it was terrifying. Besides, even with the horrible circumstances, Neville wanted to stay alive, and whatever that thing was… it was following them.

"Neville, look…" Luna had stopped and Neville kept pulling her. "Neville… tracelneg eggs!" She was looking at what looked like a gigantic bird nest on the ground with huge eggs in it.

"Luna…" Neville sighed, pulling her along. His heart was pounding in his chest as he ran. Okay, his New Year's Resolution this year was definitely going to get into better shape. He hadn't even been running that long and he was totally exhausted. But he forced himself to keep going even if he was exhausted.

But the thing was getting closer. And he hadn't run into Hagrid or Ginny. Actually, he hadn't heard them, but how could he? All Neville could concentrate on was his own heart pounding in his chest and the sounds of the creature following them, stalking its prey.

His hands were sweating, making it difficult to keep his wand in his tight grip. His lungs were on fire from how fast he was breathing. He was sure he wasn't getting any oxygen as he inhaled.

"Neville…" Luna whispered, almost as breathless as Neville was.

Neville didn't say anything, he just kept going. He needed to get her to safety. He wanted to make sure that she was going to be okay. He got her into this; he had to get her out of it.

It all happened in a flash. Neville tripped on a tree root and at the same time a deafening roar broke through the forest as the beast leaped towards Neville. Neville flipped himself around and came face to face with it.

"NEVILLE!" Luna shouted.

Neville held his wand out, pointed right at the ugly beast. It looked like it was half bear and half hyena. Drool dripped from its bared fangs as it advanced on Neville. His hand started shaking as he looked into the creature's dark eyes. What was this thing? A strange type of chimera? He learned about them in third year with Professor Lupin.

The chimera roared again causing Neville to grow even more scared.

"NEVILLE!" Luna shouted again.

Neville was almost in shock. He couldn't move, he couldn't think. He barely even heard Luna shouting his name. His eyes were locked on the creature, this thing he had never seen before. His heart pounded, his mind frozen in time.

He blinked slowly and immediately sent a curse at it: "St-tupefy!" Nothing. It didn't faze the creature. It continued advancing on its prey, almost taunting Neville. It could probably smell the Gryffindor's fear. Because let's face it, Neville was scared out of his mind.

"Run Luna…" he whispered. Whether she ran or not, Neville wasn't sure, because the next thing he realized he was on his feet again and running away from the beast and Luna, but the bear-hyenalike chimera was chasing him rather than Luna. Obviously it liked the chase.

So this was how he was going to die then? Chased by a wild animal in the Forbidden Forest. Probably torn to shreds by those razor sharp teeth. The creature was still chasing him.

But Neville didn't want to die. Who did? He knew the creature was catching up with him, and he couldn't outrun it for much longer. The only chance he had at survival was to outsmart it, and right now, Neville couldn't think of anything except how this thing was going to tear him limb from limb.

Neville wasn't sure how long it was until he finally lost. He collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, in a small grove of plants that he didn't have the energy to think about what they were. He just couldn't run anymore. His legs were burning, his heart felt like it was a few sizes too big and beating so fast that it was preventing his lungs from expanding. All he could think about was this was where he was going to die; in the heart of the Forbidden Forest. Hopefully there would be something left of him to send back to his Gran.

His vision was blurring, but he could hear the creature coming closer until a low growl told him it was right on top of him. Neville was looking right into its eyes, his vision focusing on the creature. He was so tired. He could just make out the drool forming on its jaw, all those sharp teeth… those dark eyes…

He never thought this was how he was going to go. He was always figured that something would happen with one of his dangerous plants. Even if he was extremely cautious around everything to keep from harming himself, there was just going to be that one day when he wasn't going to be careful enough.

But that… that wasn't going to happen. He was never going to see Luna again. Never hear her talk about Crumple-Horned Snorkacks and Nargles. His Gran would never yell at him for not making his bed or for spending too much time in the garden and missing lunch. He'd never see Harry finally defeat Voldemort and Snape and the Carrows getting exactly what they'd deserve. He'd never get his revenge on Bellatrix Lestrange.

As Neville's eyes began drifting shut, the creature left out a bone chilling howl. Neville's wand lay discarded somewhere in the forest, having fallen out of his hand while he was running. He was defenseless, nothing he could do to stop his impending doom.

The last thing Neville Longbottom remembered was the creature pouncing on top of him, its hot breath on his face, and then everything fell into darkness.

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**A/n:** Oh noes!

Leave some love!


	13. Recovery

**Neville Longbottom and the True Rumors**

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**Summary: **Everyone knows what happened to Harry in Deathly Hallows, but not much is known about the occurrences at Hogwarts. What really went down at Hogwarts while Harry was off Horcrux hunting?

**A/n:** Thanks for the reviews! It is kinda hard to have a cliffhanger like that when people already know how the story is gonna end.

Just as a heads up, I am going on vacation from Saturday to Tuesday. I don't know if I'll have internet.

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter is not mine. If it was Fred Weasley would NOT have died.

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**Chapter 12:** Recovery

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Neville's eyes groggily opened. It took him a few moments to figure out where he was. He was wrapped in an itchy blanket, and it was hot, so he was probably by a fire. He didn't feel any sharp pain, just… a very dull ache pretty much all over his body (quite possibly for running more than he ever had before).

"You're up," he heard a voice smile from his left. He forced his eyes to focus on her. Luna. A goofy smile formed on his face.

"I… I am…" he whispered. The events of before (he wasn't quite sure when it was) hit him like a truck. He was alive. Alive! That thing (whatever it was) hadn't killed him. His eyes were slowly coming into focus and he realized that he was in Hagrid's hut, on the large bed that probably belonged to Hagrid.

"Neville!" Ginny came closer. He felt like he was at a hospital, but he wasn't. "You're up," she laughed.

Yeah, he was. He was up, he was awake and he was alive. How long had it been since he blacked out? He couldn't even see out the window, the shades were all drawn.

"What happened?" he asked slowly.

"We found you just in time," Ginny smiled. "You had been running from that thing and Fang must've smelled you or something because he went running. We actually thought that he was running away, but he found you collapsed in a field of flowers. Apparently the pollen from them put you to sleep and it affected Fang as well, and that creature."

"Smart thing you did Neville… leading it there," Luna smiled.

Neville felt a slight blush creeping to his face. That really wasn't how it happened, but he wasn't up to fighting with them and telling them that was complete coincidence. So that was why he suddenly felt so sleepy. He collapsed into those flowers, sending the pollen everywhere and in turn making both him and that creature tired.

"Where's Hagrid?" Neville asked after a good while of silence.

"He's back out there, said he had to get some unicorn hairs so it would seem like we just did our detention, because everyone knows that Snape would never believe that we were almost killed by a tracelneg." Luna smiled, Neville could hear the fascination in her voice.

Neville bit back a laugh. "So… it didn't attack me?" he asked slowly.

Ginny shook her head. "Nope," she smiled. "It fell asleep not long after you did."

Neville nodded and relaxed into the pillows again. He went to try and push the itchy blanket off him, he was so hot right now. But he couldn't get it off.

He kept trying, but he suddenly realized how weak he was.

"Neville, don't move," Ginny said quickly. "The pollen messed with your muscles; it'll be a bit before they're up to snuff again."

Wonderful.

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A few hours later, Hagrid returned and Neville was sitting up in the oversized yet very comfortable bed.

"Yer up," he smiled.

Of course he was, he was sick of people saying that. Obviously he was up. He had heard that from everyone who had seen him.

"Yeah," Neville sighed.

Hagrid poured him a cup of tea and forced it into his hands. The cup was about the size of his head, perhaps even bigger. "Drink it," he said slowly. "It should help yeh so you can get back to school."

Neville nodded and drank it slowly, the warmth from the tea spread through his body. It felt like h is muscles were waking up, that horrible pins and needles feelings, but at least he could move more and it didn't feel as if his limbs were going to go out from putting to much weight and pressure on them.

Things fell silent again, Hagrid moving around his hut getting things together.

"What were ya thinking Neville?" he asked as he was adding more wood to the fire.

"Huh?" Neville asked slowly, looking up at Hagrid. He paused for a second and responded to the question before Hagrid had a chance to restate it. "I wasn't?"

Hagrid laughed, but said nothing more.

"What was that thing?" Neville asked cautiously.

"A tracelneg!" Luna grinned.

Hagrid shook his head. "Probably a sort of chimera. Some wizards like tryin' teh create new creatures, and when they get out of hand, the dump them."

"Oh," Neville said slowly, and things fell silent again.

**---------------------------------**

By sunset, Neville was up and about. They said goodbye to Hagrid and started back up to the school. Neville was walking between the two girls, just in case his legs decided to give out, but they seemed pretty sturdy right now, but he was just being cautious. He didn't need to fall and break anything. Even though magic could fix it in a heartbeat, it was a rather uncomfortable experience that Neville didn't want to experience again. He had only broken a bone once before, and it was horrible. He was quite surprised he hadn't broken anything when he tripped in the forest.

"That was a brave thing you did Neville," Ginny said on their way back up to the castle.

He shook his head. "I was running away from it…" he laughed.

"Away from me," Luna said slowly.

"It was brave Neville, I don't care what you say."

Neville didn't feel like fighting. Actually, right now he felt like curling up in his bed and enjoying what was left of his weekend in his dorm. And maybe when he woke up he would be out of this nightmare.

The three went their separate ways, Luna heading to the Ravenclaw Common Room and Neville and Ginny heading towards Gryffindor.

Neville was quiet as usual. When they entered the common room, they heard the usual chatter of people talking, but things fell silent as soon as he and Ginny entered. Ginny went to go sit with some of her sixth year friends and Neville ignored the looks coming his way and went up to his dorm.

It didn't seem to matter that he had spent a majority of the day sleeping in Hagrid's hut, he was exhausted (probably still from that flower, which he was going to research in Herbology the next time he had the class). He fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. He probably should have showered, but he was just too exhausted to, he'd get one when he woke up in the morning. Right now, sleep was more important than anything. Sleep off the effects.

**---------------------------------**

The next morning, Neville skipped breakfast to take a nice long shower. A nice, long, hot shower. And it felt so refreshing Neville didn't want it to end. He got out and got changed and went down to the Common Room where he met up with Ginny.

"We're gonna have a D.A. meeting today, just to get a better count of the members and plan what exactly we're going to do.

Neville wanted to groan. He needed to do his homework, and he was still a little woozy from his adventure in the Forbidden Forest. "Can't we do it another time?" he asked slowly.

Ginny shook her head. "Neville, you know the sooner we get this started, the sooner we can start doing something about them."

Neville groaned and slowly nodded. Was this weekend ever gonna end?

**---------------------------------**

**A/n:** So I didn't leave you with too much of a cliffhanger.

Leave some love!


	14. Brotherhood of Man

**Neville Longbottom and the True Rumors**

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**Summary: **Everyone knows what happened to Harry in Deathly Hallows, but not much is known about the occurrences at Hogwarts. What really went down at Hogwarts while Harry was off Horcrux hunting?

**A/n:** Thanks for the reviews! I apologize it took so long. Vacation and uber writers block.

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter is not mine. If it was Fred Weasley would NOT have died.

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**Chapter 13:** Brotherhood of Man

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Neville found himself in the Room of Requirement. He was looking at a whole bunch of faces. But it was the ones that weren't there that hurt the most. There was no Justin, there was no Dean, no Hermione, no Creevys… no Harry. Everyone was looking at him as if he was crazy. But they were all hopefull. He could see it in their eyes, written on their faces.

There was quiet talking, enough to make Ginny stand up and tell them to quiet down. Neville felt his stomach drop. He suddenly felt very nervous as all eyes turned on him. All attention was suddenly on him, and he had no idea what he was talking about. He had been convinced to do this. He knew the risks. Snape brutally told them of the risks at the beginning of the year. But something had to be done. Him and the Carrows were a menace. A menace!

Neville knew he could get expelled if he got caught, but anything was better than being here. If Harry won, Neville was almost certain that he would be unexpelled. And if Harry lost, well he was just screwed even if he did graduate. He sighed and waited for people to show up.

It took a few minutes, but a good amount of students came in. And Neville had the floor. Great. "Hey guys..." He was obviously nervous, but he knew this had to happen. "Before we get started... I want to make sure everyone knows the risks."

Immediate expulsion, no questions asked. He looked over everyone's faces. He wished he hadn't. He wasn't good at this kind of thing. What was he getting himself into? He was scared...

"I'm not making anyone stay... if you don't want to do this... you don't have to... but something... something has to be done..."

He took a deep breath. Why would anyone be here if they didn't want to be? But he was just covering his bases. He didn't want anyone getting in trouble who didn't know the risks involved with being in this secret organization that planned on overthrowing Snape and the Carrows.

"I know this is the second meeting, but I just want… I want to make sure that everyone wants to be here… before I go any further…"

Neville once again looked around the room. It was almost as if he was looking for people to get up and leave. No one did. He locked eyes with Susan and she flashed him a small but reassuring smile. Neville felt a little better. He took a deep breath, but he was interrupted by Parvati.

"What are we going to do about members… you know how Hermione had that parchment, are we going to do anything along those lines? To make sure no one snitches?"

Neville looked from Parvati around the room. He knew everyone here was hit hard by the new rules. So many students were not allowed back in school because of their bloodline. So many others had Death Eaters attack family. He slowly shook his head. "I'm sure that parchment is still enchanted from Hermione," he said slowly. With every word he was feeling a bit more confident in front of all those people. "But I don't want to… to keep a list, just in case something happens I don't want everyone getting in trouble. We'll just have to be as secretive as possible and not do dumb things…"

Parvati nodded, but her twin spoke up. "What about a Fidelius Charm?" Padma asked. "We could have one person be the Secret Keeper for the Room of Requirement. As long as they don't tell, no one will be able to find us…"

That was a great idea. But… "Who do we know that can perform one? That's really complex magic," Ginny interjected before Neville got a chance to say almost the same thing.

"Maybe Professor McGonagall, or Flitwick…"

He sighed. Well this was turning out interesting. "That is definitely an idea, thank you Padma," Neville said quickly, ending the debate before it really even started. "I will talk to Professor McGonagall tonight when I get back."

He looked around at the other people. "As for how we get word out about meetings… I'm no Hermione, I don't think the coin thing would work. Besides, the Carrows are not Umbridge. They are in a whole different league. They'll know about the coins. They'll figure it out. We'll just have to use word of mouth."

"Isn't that dangerous?" Ernie asked.

Neville quick turned to look at him. "Do you have any better ideas?"

His question got silence. He was making sense now. Maybe he wasn't Harry, but he was a good second.

"If anyone has any ideas I'm glad to hear them, I just… I don't want any proof that we exist except what we do. I don't want anyone getting in trouble if they didn't do anything but be associated with us."

A small murmur of agreement echoed through the room. He seemed to have everyone's complete attention. He actually found this quite likeable. He let things quiet down before continuing. "So any ideas on what we should do about the Carrows and Snape?"

There was silence for a few moments before a response to his question came from Terry Boot. "I don't think it would be a big idea to start big, just little things."

Neville nodded. "Like sticking up for each other in classes."

A smile formed on people's faces. Neville could see them getting excited. "Sticking up for anyone that they pick on," Susan chimed in.

"And we should still learn about Defense," Seamus added. That was more than Neville had heard him talk since Dean disappeared. His voice was still quiet. But he kept his eyes on Neville. "You know, just in case…"

Neville nodded. "Good idea."

Neville continued looking around at everyone. While the mood was still somber, he could feel the excitement buzzing around the room. The excitement about doing something about these horrible horrible people and what they were doing to them.

"So we'll start there… I don't want to draw too much attention to us at the beginning."

Another murmur of agreement spread through the room. "So our next meeting will be in a week."

"So that's it?" Ernie asked.

"We can't be missing for too long right now. Not on a night when classes are tomorrow. The Carrows do Common Room checks on a Sunday night. We'll have our next meeting in here… on Saturday. We'll first work on um… on Disillusionment Charms. They're important."

And that was what they were currently learning about in N.E.W.T. Level Charms. A nod of agreement.

He took a deep breath. "We'll stagger leaving, just in case."

He really wished that he had that map of Harry's. That was really helpful. "Go straight back to your common room, nowhere else."

He was answered with another set of nods and a murmur. "Until next Saturday… just keep strong."

And just like that the meeting was over. People left the Room of Requirement slowly. The Hufflepuffs went first since their Common Room was furthest away. Then the Ravenclaws. And soon it was just the "new trio" there.

"You did great Neville," Luna smiled as she hugged him. "Really great."

Neville slowly returned the hug. "Good. I was so nervous…"

"Really?" Ginny asked with a small smile. "We couldn't tell."

Neville laughed gently. "I tried." He took a deep breath. "I need to go talk to McGonagall…"

Ginny nodded. "Let's get out of here…"

Neville nodded and started leaving the Room of Requirement. The Gryffindor Common Room wasn't too far away. They were just about to part ways with Luna when a firm hand grabbed Neville's shoulder and turned him around. "And what do we have here?" a cold voice asked.

It sent shivers down Neville's spine. No. Please… no..

He turned around and came face to face with Headmaster Severus Snape.

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**A/n:** Another cliffie.

Heehee. I like them too much.

Leave some love!


	15. Smile Like You Mean It

**Neville Longbottom and the True Rumors**

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**Summary**: Everyone knows what happened to Harry in Deathly Hallows, but not much is known about the occurrences at Hogwarts. What really went down at Hogwarts while Harry was off Horcrux hunting?

**A/n**: Thanks for the reviews! I apologize it took so long. I just moved in to college and needed some time to get used to everything. But I will try to update as often as I can (but it will be more than a day or two between).

Muchas gracias to my beta!

**Disclaimer**: Harry Potter is not mine. If it was Fred Weasley would NOT have died.

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**Chapter 14**: Smile Like You Mean It

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Neville looked Snape in the eye. That was something he had never been able to do before, but once he started he felt the urge to look away from those horrible and evil dark eyes of Snape's, but he stopped himself. That was the old Neville. He didn't want to be the old Neville. He wanted to be the leader of the DA. He wanted to shed that old personality and grow into this person he felt he was destined to become. Neville Longbottom.

"Well…" Snape snapped impatiently, tapping his foot on the ground, his arms crossed.

Neville was about to open his mouth to say something, but Luna cut him off. "We're sorry Professor Snape, I drug them to go looking for the infestation of Nargles in the kitchens…" It was obvious she was scared.

Snape obviously didn't believe her and looked at the three of them. Neville's hair was a bit of a mess; they had been running to get back to the Common Room before getting caught, and he was covered in a thin layer of sweat.

"A likely story…" Snape's cold voice came across, echoing dully through the deserted halls. Hopefully no one else had got caught. Neville was pretty sure the guilt of that would eat him away. He didn't want them getting in trouble, but he had to remind himself that they knew the risks (he made sure they did).

"Detention…" Snape continued, keeping his glare focused on Neville. While Neville was terrified, he was trying not to show it. Snape wasn't his biggest fear anymore, but he was still pretty far up there. The man in general was just a scary bastard. But Neville never would have said that out loud. At least not yet. "Tomorrow evening. All three of you will meet Professor Carrow in her office."

Neville inwardly cringed. Alecto Carrow was a horrible person. And that was the understatement of the century. He continued looking at Snape. His heart was racing from the running and the fear shooting through him because of Snape.

"Really?" he asked, his voice not giving his fear away at all. "Professor Carrow? Why not with you?"

Ginny gasped and looked at Neville. Neville hadn't heard her though, his look turning into a glare. "Don't like getting your hands dirty, Snape?" Who was this kid, and what did he do to Neville?

Snape looked like he was about to curse Neville into the next century. But instead the Headmaster just glared down at Neville and then laughed. "You must like detentions… because you just earned yourself… three more."

Neville felt his stomach drop. Three more? That was… impossible. That was… cruel. Some people could barely handle one detention let alone three. "Now get back to your Common Room before you all get more…"

Luna didn't need telling twice as she looked at Ginny and Neville before fleeing off to the Ravenclaw Common Room. Neville kept his glare even on Snape as Ginny pulled him away. As soon as they were out of sight the fiery Gryffindor let loose on Neville. "What the hell were you thinking Neville!?" she snapped angrily. "Four detentions!? They're going to kill you!"

Neville ignored her. He rather liked that feeling he got when the words first spilled out of his mouth. The warm feeling that went from his heart and moved out to the rest of his body. He just told Snape off. Sure he was going to get punished for it, but Neville had a feeling that it was well worth it. Looking back he couldn't believe he said that. But he was glad he did.

He didn't reply to Ginny and the two of them kept walking to the Common Room. Neville couldn't wipe the smile off his face.

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Neville kept that feeling close through his four detentions. The first one wasn't that bad because he had Ginny and Luna there with him. And while he knew he didn't need to, he put on a strong façade. Did he deserve the detentions? Yeah. Yeah he did. While it was completely insane, he would have gotten detentions had he done this the previous year, or the year before. He was out of bounds after curfew and mouthed off to a Professor (well Headmaster in this case). They were detentionable offenses.

But instead of doing lines, going into the Forbidden Forest, or menial cleaning… the Carrows were having their fun with him. Cursing him. Putting him through the worst pain imaginable, probably getting some sick pleasure out of hearing him scream. But it wasn't his own pain that hurt the Gryffindor the most, rather when Amycus Carrow cursed Luna. He could feel his blood boiling and if his muscles would have just listened to his mind screaming at them to move Neville was sure that Amycus would be sorry.

Unfortunately after four days of detentions, Neville barely made it back to the Common Room. And it was only Thursday. He still had a whole day of classes before the weekend. And it was his favorite classes on Friday too. Dark Arts in the morning with Charms, and Muggle Studies after lunch.

Neville was half tempted to go in the second year's dorms and find Fred and George's Secret Stash of their products. They had told Ginny, and Ginny in turn had told him where they were. But that was just asking for another whole week of detention rather than just four days. And after four days he felt like jumping out of the Astronomy Tower, he couldn't imagine a week.

He found himself sitting in the Common Room after his last detention. He knew he should go up to the dorm, but he couldn't stand it up there, and he wasn't sure if he could make it up there. It was so quiet, everything the dorm wasn't. Quiet, peaceful, depressing. It was only him and Seamus up there anymore. And Seamus was just… not Seamus. Ever since Dean left Seamus wasn't the same person. He was broody. And being up there made everything so much more real. The fact that this was really happening.

He rested his head on one of the red and gold pillows and stared at the fire. Just thinking. Was what he was doing really right? Was he making his parents proud? Were his parents proud that their son was being used as target practice for the Carrows and their Purity Squad? Neville really hoped so.

But how could he be sure?

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**A/n:** Well, I updated. I once again apologize for the wait. I didn't mean for it to take this long…

Anyways, just a poll. I know this is going to have a lot of Neville/Luna in it, but I was thinking as a possible secondary ship having a possible little something happen between Neville/Susan at a later point in the plot (I promise it'll make sense). Just tell me if you'd rather I keep this strictly Neville/Luna, or throw in the little extra romance.

Leave some love!


	16. The Boys Dorm

**Neville Longbottom and the True Rumors**

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**Summary**: Everyone knows what happened to Harry in Deathly Hallows, but not much is known about the occurrences at Hogwarts. What really went down at Hogwarts while Harry was off Horcrux hunting?

**A/n**: Here's a… lighthearted chapter. Because we need one.

**Disclaimer**: Harry Potter is not mine. If it was Fred Weasley would NOT have died.

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**Chapter 15:** The Boys Dorm

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Things at Hogwarts got exponentially more depressing as time went by. And time went by extremely slowly. Slower than Neville ever would have thought possible. The days felt like weeks. Especially if he had Muggle Studies and Dark Arts in the same day. It made him want to jump off the Astronomy Tower.

And it wasn't just him that felt this way. He felt it from everyone. The Gryffindor Common Room which was normally full of life was dead. No one really talked anymore. No one did anything except school work and… well that was about it. The DA meetings were the only break, and they weren't very helpful. Everything seemed so tense to Neville. He never talked to McGonagall. Whenever he wanted to talk to her, he could never seem to find the woman. So he gave up.

The DA meetings felt like all business to Neville. There used to be an air of fun about them, but now it was obvious that the stuff they were learning could easily save their lives, and it made them somber. Somber and serious. And Neville didn't like it.

So he wanted to do as much as he could do about it.

And it all started in the Gyrffindor's boys dorm:

As usual, Seamus and Neville were sitting there in silence. Seamus was sitting on Dean's bed and Neville was working on Herbology. The average day in the seventh year's boys dorm anymore. They both knew it didn't help the tenseness of the atmosphere. But he couldn't help it. He didn't know what to say. He and Seamus never were all that close.

Then out of the blue, Seamus spoke. "So do you think that a dementor mated with a Carrow, and that's how they became so dreadful?" he asked Neville.

Neville looked up at Seamus. "A dementor? I was going to say the Grim Reaper, but dementor works too..." There was a small smile on his face. Oh there was nothing like mocking the Carrows. They deserved it, and they were fresh meat. One could only call Snape a bat-like git with a long nose and greasy hair so many times before it got old."Though why anyone would want to mate with them... How much they would have to pay someone..."

"Good point. I think they had to resort to the Imperius Curse to actually get any," Seamus shuttered. "You know what? I'm going to stop talking about this now."

Neville was thankful he stopped because that probably had happened. On a number of occasions. With like...anyone else, it would be funny, a joke. But them? It wasn't as funny.

Neville took a deep breath. "You ever see the way they look at each other?" he asked slowly. There was a small smile sneaking up across his features. "Sometimes I wonder if they might be... more than brother and sister."Yes it was disgusting, but so fitting for the Carrows and all the stupid shit they believed in.

A rare, highly rare, very highly epically rare grin rose to Seamus's face. "You're disgusting!" he laughed as he threw a pillow at Neville.

Oh, it was worth all the disgustingness to see Seamus with that impish grin on his face again. It had been way too long since any sort of laughter was heard from this dorm. And before it used to be quite fun. Neville shook his head as the pillow hit him and a laugh bubbled up out of him. "It's true though! Don't tell me you haven't noticed it!"It was quite disgusting, but it was helping to keep morale up... wasn't it? "Besides, who would want... either of them?"

A dirty smirk replaced the grin on Seamus's face, but it was still a bouncy sort of smirk. "They're perfect for each other." Seamus paused and threw another pillow at Neville. "That is completely sick."

Neville couldn't stop himself from laughing as he managed to catch the pillow. He chucked it back at Seamus. This was so freaking sick, but it was taking their minds away from all the bad shit that had happened, so it was... a good distraction?Neville shook his head again. At least they were laughing. "Of course they are! How tragic! Neither of them want them, but at least they have each other..."Snicker. Okay, this was Neville?

"Bad...bad bad bad mental images. I try...I try so hard to stop them...they just keep... coming... aaaugh I hate you Neville," Seamus laughed, the real Seamus actually coming through and the laugh was a welcome sound. "Why? Why oh why are we even discussing this?" he asked, still laughing.

Neville was laughing pretty hard now that it was getting a bit difficult to even speak. "Because... it... is... funny..." And it was. It was sick and disgusting, but it was funny. And now that Neville had started laughing, he couldn't stop. But it felt so good to laugh so hard. It was beginning to hurt, but at the same time it felt pretty good.

"It's not funny!" Seamus laughed. Well obviously Seamus thought it was pretty damn funny. "It's sick! Wrong! Disgusting!" But Seamus was laughing. Actually laughing. It was a sound Neville hadn't heard in such a long time.

"Then... then why are we laughing so hard?" he asked, still laughing. He never realized how nice it felt to laugh. It was so relaxing. He just wanted to keep laughing and keep laughing. He loved the way it felt, even if it was laughing about something disgusting like that.It was also a testament as to how tense everything was, that something like that could make them all laugh so much, it was quite funny.

Neville had never seen Seamus laugh this hard. And it made him laugh even harder. It felt so good to let everything go for a little bit and just laugh like old times. Sure the laughter wasn't as loud and obnoxious as it normally was, but it was still loud. Loud for there only being two of them.

The two continued laughing for a while. "Neville… Neville stop laughing…" Seamus managed to get out between the laughs. But Neville couldn't stop laughing as long as Seamus was laughing. It just was the way it was. Laughing was contagious.

"I can't…" he whispered between the laughs as he tried but failed to stop laughing.

It took a long while before the two of them finally quieted down and a dull ache settled in Neville's abdomen. He had laughed so hard it was actually painful. And just the thought of it made him chuckle again. As much as it hurt… he had to admit that it made him feel so much better.

"Sorry…" he whispered.

"Well you should be…" Seamus snapped, but it was obvious the other Gryffindor was simply joking. "I won't be able to look at them anymore…"

Well Neville felt the same way, but maybe that was a good thing. "I'll make classes seem a lot easier to get through now, won't it?" Yeah, he'd never get that horrid picture out of his mind now. Wonderful.

He paused for a moment with that smile still on his face. He'd have to figure out a way to spread this warm feeling to the rest of the members of the DA. Get the morale up. Because after this, Neville felt a million times better than before.

"Hey Seamus…" Neville said slowly as he looked up at his friend. "Can I have my pillow back?"

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**A/n:** So that was my attempt at a light-hearted chapter. I'm not too good at them… because… well I don't know. I will add another one in, you guys decide, have them back to back or have some space in between them?

Leave some love… or hate… or whatever…


	17. As We Stumble Along

**Neville Longbottom and the True Rumors**

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**Summary**: Everyone knows what happened to Harry in Deathly Hallows, but not much is known about the occurrences at Hogwarts. What really went down at Hogwarts while Harry was off Horcrux hunting?

**A/n**: And back to the angst… which I seem to be pretty good at writing. I am pushing the pedal to the floor for the next few chapters (or maybe just this one), or time won't pass at all…

As for the concern about detentions, if they used the Cruciatus every detention, many students would end up like the Longbottoms… so I think that they don't often use the Cruciatus curse unless the crime calls for it, so not very often. At least not in the beginning.

Wow, this is a lot longer than my normal chapter. Heehee.

**Disclaimer**: Harry Potter is not mine. If it was Fred Weasley would NOT have died.

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**Chapter 16:** As We Stumble Along

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It wasn't long before things went back to normal. And back to normal meant classes, DA meetings, detentions… and not always in that order. Sometimes there was a random Potterwatch thrown in there, but other than that, things fell into an almost dull monotony.

But that was broken up by the DA doing things they shouldn't. It was Terry's idea to graffiti the wall to let the school know of their presence. Neville was rather fond of that idea. He thought it proved their point quite well. They didn't want to hurt anybody, but still be a presence.

Neville had gotten himself two or three detentions from the Carrows themselves for standing up to them (even if they terrified him), and each one had been successfully worse than the previous one. But they were worth it. One of them, Alecto decided to target a stuttering first year Gryffindor who wrote an essay that she accused him of cheating on. Neville knew better than that, he saw the young Gryffindor working tediously over it, even asking different Gryffindors for help. Neville stood up for him and ended up getting the detention that he was supposed to get.

Yes. That was definitely worth it.

But the Carrows were getting worse and worse in classes. And by mid-December they were nearly unbearable. There had been few rumors circulating about Harry, but Neville wasn't losing hope. He wasn't the kind of person to lose hope so easily. He wanted to hold onto that one little shred of hope that Harry was out there searching for You-Know-Who.

It was difficult. Most of the school figured Harry wasn't coming back, that Harry was saving his own skin rather than trying to help them. Neville knew Harry wasn't that kind of person.

"Did you write the Dark Arts essay yet?" Seamus asked, bringing Neville crashing back into reality. He was in the boys dorm, just staring blankly at the piece of parchment that now had a huge ink blot on it..

"The what?" Neville asked slowly, turning around to look at Seamus who was still sitting on Dean's bed. Neville often wondered if the Gryffindor slept there sometimes.

"The Dark Arts essay that's due tomorrow…" Seamus said slowly. "The one about the… the uh… lasting effects of the Cruciatus Curse."

Neville fell oddly silent. He hadn't actually planned on writing it.

"How bad you think the punishment would be to just not do it?" He knew it would probably be harsh, but he really didn't want to write this essay. Sure there were other essays that he really didn't want to write but he would always grit his teeth and do it anyways. But this... it wasn't simply a matter of not wanting to write the essay, just the fact that he'd probably get sick and sorta depressed if he did. He was already starting to feel himself getting sick.He just didn't want to do it. He had enough of this. Neville didn't look over at Seamus for the response. He already knew the answer.

"I'd just do it Neville… it's just an essay, not worth getting detention over. Besides Professor Carrow seemed almost… gleeful when he assigned it. If you don't do it, he'll show you first hand…"

Neville flinched, but put all his stuff away. He didn't care. "I'm not writing it." It was as simple as that. He didn't care how much trouble he was going to get into, he was not going to write it. He didn't feel like getting sick or wanting to just go and... cry in the bathroom. While he had only ever done that once it was for good reason. "Let him put me in Mungos, see if I care..."Wow, where was this coming from? Was this really Neville Longbottom. While he wasn't a stickler for the rules like Hermione, but he had never broken one... well... without reason. This was just... a stupid thing to do. He slammed the book closed and stood up. Nope, not happening. Not at all.

Seamus just looked at him. "What's wrong Neville?"

"Wrong?" Neville asked as he sat on his bed, leaning against the headboard and crossing his arms across his chest. He had already changed out of his Hogwarts robes and was quiet comfortable in his pajamas. "There's nothing wrong," he said quickly. "I just... what's the point. It would probably be better than being here. Getting to wear pajamas all day and have people do everything for you..."

Of course, the downside was you had no idea what was going on around you. You didn't even remember people that you used to care so much about. And then there was the horrible pain involved with getting to that point. Neville knew he was just talking and he'd probably wait until Seamus was asleep to write it. Because he knew that it would just upset him that much to write about it. "Of course, I wouldn't remember anything, but what's even worth remembering anymore?" Not this place, that's for sure.

Seamus was silent for a while. "I wouldn't want to end up insane in Mungos. I'd rather die…" he finally said. And his words sunk into Neville. He had always said that his parents had a fate worse than death… and it was probably all the stress finally getting to him that made him say those things. He'd never want that for anyone, including himself.

He fell silent for a while. "I wish I could go to Mungos…" he finally said slowly.

This confused Seamus. A lot. "Why would you want to go there?"

"My mother's birthday was yesterday..." he said slowly. And he'd always visit her on her birthday. Just like he would always go in on his father's birthday as well. Even though it meant nothing to them, it meant something to him, just being able to go in and spend time with them on those days. He looked away from Seamus to hide the glistening of tears in his eyes. He didn't want to wipe them away because then it would be obvious he was on the verge of tears. He just looked out the window."I've always visited on my parent's birthday.." Dumbledore would personally escort him on those two days. He wouldn't spend long there. Just enough to satisfy himself before coming back to school. Most people didn't even realize he was missing. And if they did he said he was doing something in the greenhouse. Professor Sprout would always cover for him.His voice cracked slightly when he said that. He had totally forgotten that Seamus had no idea what had happened to his parents. But that gave it away pretty well.

"Cruciatus?" Seamus asked slowly, his tone implying that he didn't mean to intrude.

Neville nodded slowly. "I was just a baby..." he said quietly. He still had nightmares about it sometimes. He could hear them. He could see them. He took a forced breath and didn't say anymore as the tears fell. He wiped them away quickly.

"They don't know who I am..." he whispered. He sounded so heartbroken. And he was. It was horrible to think about, and every time he had a detention or saw someone come back from a detention he couldn't help but wonder that if the Carrows were to get too curse happy that they could end up at Mungos, in a bed next to his parents.

"I… I'm sorry…" Seamus said quietly. There was a long pause. "The Carrows know about this...no doubt..."

Neville said nothing for a very long time. Of course the Carrows knew. While they weren't one of the ones that did it they might as well have been. They had killed countless people after the fall of Voldemort. Maybe it just would have been better if his parents would have been killed instead of tortured to insanity. "Yeah..."His voice was quiet. His eyes were closed and he knew the moment he opened them the tears would come spilling over his eyelids and crashing down his face. And he didn't want to cry. He took a few deep breaths. "Can't wait to do it to me too I bet.."

Seamus looked at Neville, even though Neville wouldn't return his gaze. "They won't get the chance..." he murmured. "We can't afford to lose another leader like you Neville. We've already lost Harry, we can't lose you too. I'm sorry for what happened to your family Nev, to you, but they won't break you like they did your parents."

Neville opened his eyes and the tears fell, but he brushed them away. He doubted that. His parents were Aurors. They were trained to handle torture, and they were broken. "Leader? I'm no leader Seamus... I'm the Herbology kid..." And he had been rather happy with that title. It fit. He loved Herbology, it was his favorite class and he knew that that was all he wanted to do in his future... if he had one. He wasn't sure if he was going to make it out of school in one piece at the rate the Carrows were going.He still didn't quite understand why everyone was following him so blindly. It was... discouraging. Very discouraging."I couldn't go through what they did.."

"You're their son, why couldn't you? You've got their blood in you - you're no less of a man than your father was, no less of a warrior than your mother. You've been leading us through the DA...I don't see why you don't see it the way we do. They've become our family, the DA an escape, a small glimmer of hope. We follow you because you're the bravest, the one who at least looks like he knows what he's doing, even if he doesn't. If you act with command, you'll get respect back. Just not from the Carrows. Or a Death Eater. Or You-Know-Who." Those were the most words Neville had heard come out of Seamus' mouth in a very long time. He sighed gently and looked back at Neville. "I'm sorry…" He finished.

See, that's why he rarely told people. He hated people feeling bad for him. He hated people apologizing for stuff they had no control over. He didn't want people to say they were sorry. They were just words, they meant nothing.

"Thanks…"

And things fell back in to tense silence.

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Thankfully it was soon time to go home for the holidays, and Neville had never seen the Hogwarts Express so full. So full with students so happy and relieved to return to the safety of the own homes, to return to where they didn't have to worry about the Carrows or Snape, or being tortured by Slytherins, or any of that.

Home was safe.

Neville shared a compartment with Luna, Ginny, and Seamus. Seamus was sitting next to Ginny and Luna had fallen asleep on Neville shoulder. The poor girl had been so exhausted lately that she had fallen asleep midsentence, her beautiful blonde hair falling down Neville's shoulder, making him smile. A genuine smile.

"Neville…" Ginny said slowly as she looked at her two best friends. "Tell her…"

"Tell her what?" Neville asked, very confused as he repositioned so that his arm wouldn't fall asleep and was holding Luna in an almost protective manner. He was so tempted to kiss her again. Sure he had only ever kissed her on the head before when she had been asleep, but he still remembered that.

"Tell her that you loooove her…" Seamus said with a laugh.

Neville blushed and looked away from the two of them. Was it really that obvious? Maybe it was the way that he gave her extra help in the DA even when she didn't need it, or how he would sometimes end up staring at her from across the Great Hall during meals. He'd even look at her like she was… an angel sent from the heavens. Someone there to help him through this hard time.

Both Ginny and Seamus laughed when he blushed and it caused Luna to stir slightly but not wake up. Thank goodness. Neville didn't think he could handle the embarrassment if his secret crush were to come out in that way.

"You're only hurting her by not telling her…" Ginny said after she managed to get her giggling under control. "Do it before we get off the train Neville, I promise it won't be as bad as you think…"

Neville had never had a girlfriend before. Neville had never been kissed before. Neville was so obnoxiously shy and thought that he wasn't the person he obviously was. After the whole Lavender incident his third year, he always feared coming out about his crushes. He thought he was going to have a heart attack when he asked Ginny to the Yule Ball his fourth year.

But that turned out all right… right?

He looked down at her as she snuggled closer to his chest causing Neville to smile and once again repress the urge to kiss her head.

But before he had a chance to the train skidded to a stop much like it had in his third year. The lights went out on the train and Neville immediately pulled his wand out. Same with Ginny and Seamus. Better safe than sorry.

The jolting of the train woke Luna up and she yawned and looked around. "Whas'appenin'?" she slurred still trying to wake up. Neville shhhed her and put his finger up to his mouth.

Things were tensely silent for a few minutes before the door to their own compartment opened revealing three fully masked Death Eaters.

"Luna Lovegood…" one of them said as they pointed their wand at Luna.

Before Neville could stop himself he stood between Luna and the man. He wasn't going to let that happen. He didn't know what he wanted with Luna, but he couldn't have her. He wouldn't let him take her! It was four on three, they could definitely take the Death Eaters… if they weren't faster and better trained. Neville tried to curse them, but all three focused on him rather than on his three companions in the compartment.

With a simple flip of a wrist from all three, Neville flew across the compartment and cracked his head on the side of the train, sliding down a small line of blood trickling from his scalp and his eyes closed. It didn't take long before consciousness escaped him. The last words on his lips were her name.

But she probably didn't hear him.

"Lu—"

And the darkness took over.

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**A/n:** So… poor Neville!!!! Updates will probably be weekly. I have a lot of homework and stuff… so…

Leave some love.


	18. Maybe This Christmas

**Neville Longbottom and the ****Endless Night**

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**Summary**: Everyone knows what happened to Harry in Deathly Hallows, but not much is known about the occurrences at Hogwarts. What really went down at Hogwarts while Harry was off Horcrux hunting?

**A/n**: I'm thinking of changing the title to Neville Longbottom and the Endless Night. Just giving you guys a heads up that the name will be changed when I post the next chapter.

**Disclaimer**: Harry Potter is not mine. If it was Fred Weasley would NOT have died.

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**Chapter 17**: Maybe This Christmas

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Neville woke up a while later, his head was pounding. Ginny was sitting next to him. He groaned softly as the world around him came into focus. The past events hit him like a train. He felt so horrible right now.

"Luna…" he whispered.

He felt Ginny stroke his head as she shook her head. He looked up at her, locking his crystal blue eyes with hers. "Gin?" he asked slowly. He knew what happened and didn't understand why they were hiding it from him.

He slowly forced himself up, ignoring their silence. He noticed that the train had not been moving which made him think it had stopped. He wanted to get out of here. All he could see was them taking Luna away. He hated it. He was so worried that that was the last time he was going to see her. That his last memory of her would be them dragging her away.

He grabbed his trunk and started walking over to Gran.

"Neville…" Ginny called after him, running to go catch up with him. Neville turned around and looked at Ginny, that fear evident in his eyes. The fear that that was the last time he was going to see Luna. His head was pounding, he just wanted to leave.

He could see the smile fall from her face as his best friend pulled him into a hug. Neville clumsily returned it, but his heart wasn't in it at all. "Take care…" she whispered as she hugged him. Neville slowly broke away from her hug and nodded.

"Yeah… you too…" He turned away from her and walked up to his grandmother. He had a feeling this was going to be the worst holiday ever.

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Neville's assumption wasn't too far off. He locked himself in his room for most of his time home. He was upset, and he didn't want his grandmother to notice it. She'd talk to him about how his father would be taking action and not moping in his room. But at this point in time… she didn't realize what he was doing with the DA. He didn't know a way to tell her while he was still at Hogwarts. Everything was being checked so closely.

It was one particular night right before Christmas that Neville was once again not sleeping. He hadn't gotten a full night's sleep since the Death Eaters took Luna. He'd fall asleep and have horrible nightmares of what they were doing to her. He'd have horrendous nightmares of them hurting her, of them killing her.

He should have done more. He was really beating himself up over this. He knew he could have done so much more to help her. He could have cursed them instead of just standing there with his teeth in his mouth.

But no. He let them take her.

And now she was probably dead.

The thought itself brought tears to Neville's eyes when he thought about his best friend being dead. His best friend that he had the hugest crush on. He didn't want to think of her as being dead, but he couldn't think of anything else. He didn't care what time it was. He slowly crept down the steps to get a drink of water. He hoped that it would make him feel better. He felt so sick.

It felt like someone was repeatedly punching him the stomach and never stopping. He was making himself sick. Really sick.

Unfortunately the water didn't do him any good as he curled up on a chair in his living room, looking through one of his Gran's old photo albums of his father when he was in school. While Neville looked a lot like his mother, he wanted more than anything to live up to his father's big shoes.

He saw his father's smiling face standing next to his mother on his graduation day. They seemed to be the perfect couple. Two absolutely stunning Hogwarts students with huge smiles on their faces. If Neville were to put that picture next to them now he wouldn't even think that they were the same people. They changed so much, and it was heartbreaking.

Well if anything that made things so much worse for Neville. He was getting sicker and sicker. He hadn't eaten enough for a long time. Sure he'd eat what his Gran would force down his throat, but that was about it. No more, no less. He just wasn't hungry.

But at least he was keeping it down. And that was all that really mattered.

By now it was around four in the morning and Neville hadn't gotten a wink of sleep. He didn't even realize that it was Christmas Day. He didn't have much Christmas Spirit in him this year. Who did? He felt so lost and empty. He didn't want to go back to Hogwarts, but he didn't want to stay here. He just wanted to take Luna and Ginny and all his other friends and just run. Get out of the country, get as far away from here as possible. He heard that Australia was nice this time of year…

But he knew better than that. At least he hoped he did.

He soon found himself walking aimlessly around his sitting room. Trying to find a way to get to sleep. He looked over at the fireplace and the idea hit him in a flash. He had done it a few times and it helped him fall asleep. It was always nice, just… imagining that she knew him…

He made the fire burn a bit higher as he reached for the Floo Powder. He knew that he could apparate, but he didn't want to risk it. He hadn't gotten his license yet because of some stupid thing that happened that he didn't even want to remember. He had forgotten about it.

He threw the Floo Powder in to the fire and it turned a bright green color.

"St. Mungos…" he said forcefully but softly, not wanting to wake his Gran.

The next thing he knew he was there. He hated travelling by Floo Powder. But it was the only way to get around. He had totally forgotten that it was four in the morning. There was only one healer working there. And she was half asleep. But she knew who he was. Everyone knew who he was. He was the Longbottoms' son. They liked it when he visited. He was always so polite and the circumstances surrounding him were just so depressing.

Neville knew they all felt bad for him, but he chose to ignore that. He chose to totally ignore that.

He just walked right past the healer without saying a word, right over towards his parents. They had recently been moved to their own room, one with a higher security clearance. They didn't need Bellatrix Lestrange coming in to finish the job. Somehow Mungos still remained almost unaffected by the Death Eaters, or maybe it was and Neville just didn't know. But he felt safe here.

Safety was important. He felt safer here than he ever did at school, or even at home. He felt protected here, like nothing could hurt him.

He said the password to get into his parents' room. He walked in and he could hear his father's light snores. His father seemed to often be asleep when he came in. But he'd wake up eventually. Not like it made much of a difference, the man didn't even realize that someone was in the room. He had been getting worse and worse. While Neville knew that there was no hope for either of them getting better, seeing his father not even… coherent that there was someone visiting was hard.

He sat down next to his mother's bed. The woman was barely recognizable as even being related to Neville. Her once round and jovial face had turned thin and daunting. A face that was often haunting Neville's dreams.

"Hey mum…" Neville said softly. As usual, Alice was still awake. She was always awake when Neville came, it made him wonder if she ever slept. The woman smiled like she always did. It made a small smile form across his own face.

He heard from the healers that his mother treated all her visitors like this. That she was always nice to them and sort of interacted with them… But Neville wanted to believe that she recognized him, that she was being nice because she knew he was her son. Because deep down they both felt that loving connection between a mother and son.

But Neville knew that wasn't true. He knew that his mother had no idea who anyone was except her husband, and even that was iffy some days.

As usual, his mother didn't verbally respond. He had never heard her voice, but he had been told it was one of the most beautiful sounds in the world. He never heard either of his parents talk except in his nightmares. And that was not how he wanted to think of his parents' voices. Screaming in pain. Crying. Screaming. Pain.

Just the thought brought more tears to his eyes.

But he came here to talk. So that was what he did.

"I… I don't know what to do…" he whispered as he reached out and grabbed the hand of his prematurely aging mother. He knew his mother probably had no idea what he was saying, but at least he was getting it off his chest. He just wished that one day she would just tell him what to do. That she would help him out.

He remembered when he was a little kid and he had a horrible nightmare right after his grandfather died and his grandmother was in no state to help him, he ran away. He ran to the only place he could think of. St. Mungos. He cried his eyes out as he curled up next to his mother. The woman was confused, but had never done anything to make him go away. Neville just… he needed that motherly comfort, and he had no way of getting it.

That was what he needed right now.

He looked at his mother and wiped away more of his tears. Why the hell was he crying?

"Remember Luna?" Of course she didn't. She didn't remember anything. But Neville forced that little voice in the back of his mind to keep quiet. He needed to talk to her like she had an inkling of what the hell was going on. Like she wasn't in the Insanity Ward of St. Mungos. "They took her… they took her and I…" His voice finally cracked as the tears started falling faster than he could wipe them away.

He sniffled lightly. "Please… just… tell me… something… say something…" He hadn't begged his mother to speak to him in a long time. Not since he was eleven years old and went to tell them he got into Hogwarts.

A soft sob racked the Gryffindor's body as he tried to hold it in which caused unnecessary pain to go through his body. He wiped away more tears as the older woman squeezed his hand silently.

"It's horrible mum…" he said after he finally got himself composed enough to talk again. Thankfully no one else could hear this. "The Death Eaters have taken… taken over everything… they're torturing people at school and they… they took Luna…"

He wasn't talking about how much they had hurt him, or how horrible they made him feel by constantly talking about his parents (even if they didn't mention them explicitly). He was talking about Luna. The poor boy was absolutely heartbroken. She was gone. She was gone and he was never going to see her again. That's all that his mind was telling him. He let them take her and now she was going to die or worse…

He looked down at the white sheets of his mother's bed as he tried to calm himself down again, but the sobs wouldn't stop. He couldn't get them to stop. He wanted them to, but they wouldn't.

And right now, he wanted to just curl up in the bed with her and try and get some motherly comfort from her, even if it was just a heartfelt hug or even a kiss on the cheek. He had never got either from his mother. Sure he had gotten plenty of hugs and kisses from Gran, but that wasn't the same. He just had a feeling it wasn't. He saw kids getting hugs and kisses goodbye on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, and he wanted to know what that felt like.

"I think… I think it's my fault…" he whispered. He didn't mean to be so self-centered about it, but he really couldn't think of any other reason they would go after Luna (he never read the Quibbler, not since Colin was out of classes for a week for reading it.

"I've been… I've been rebelling against them…" he whispered, squeezing his mother's hand even tighter. He hated one sided conversations, and unfortunately that was all he ever had with his parents. Except in his dreams.

"And they know it... and they took her… to m-make me stop…" While they hadn't said that, that was exactly what Neville's mind told him. That because of his horrible behavior they took Luna away to make him stop.

Well if anything that just made him want to go after them even more. But he didn't want them to hurt her. He really wished he would have just told her how much he loved her. That he would have worked up the courage to just tell her and maybe things would have been different.

"And…" His voice cracked again as he found himself unable to continue. He finally looked up at his mother to see that she was just staring blankly at the ceiling, a distant look in her eyes that made him feel even worse.

He squeezed the woman's hand even tighter as he collapsed into himself as he started crying uncontrollably.

He had only ever asked for one thing for Christmas every year for as long as he could remember. And that one little thing that he wanted, that only thing he wanted… he never got it. He used to write letters to Santa when he was little, just asking him to let him talk to his parents and have them talk back, or he'd ask for them to get better.

But he never got that one Christmas wish.

And he had a feeling he never would.

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**A/n:** Leave some love!


	19. Wish It Would Break

**Neville Longbottom and the ****True Rumors**

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**Summary**: Everyone knows what happened to Harry in Deathly Hallows, but not much is known about the occurrences at Hogwarts. What really went down at Hogwarts while Harry was off Horcrux hunting?

**A/n**: Yeah. I decided to keep the story title the same and use my new idea for the story title of the sequel… which I'm already plotting out in my head… that's never good…

**Disclaimer**: Harry Potter is not mine. If it was Fred Weasley would NOT have died.

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**Chapter ****1****8:** Wish It Would Break

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Neville wasn't sure how long he sat there. He figured it was a while because the sky outside the small window in the room was beginning to get lighter. The sun was trying to come out from behind the clouds to attempt to get the poor Gryffindor to feel a little better. But Neville was quite sure there was nothing in the world that could make him feel any better right now. Except maybe Luna walking through that door or waking up from this horrible nightmare.

The seventeen year old was suddenly brought out of his little world when he felt a hand grasp his shoulder. The kid probably jumped a good foot out of the chair he was sitting in. He automatically reached into his pocket for his wand. It was a natural reaction for him. If he felt his safety was in jeopardy and there was no possible way of escaping, he would do whatever it took to protect himself.

Unfortunately his wand wasn't there. A sudden and sever panic overtook him. They had come to get him. No. Even worse. Bellatrix had come to finish the job she started sixteen years ago. And he couldn't even put up a half decent fight because he had left his wand at home. How stupid was he?!

His heart was pounding in his chest as he turned around to come face to face with his foe. He thought his heart was going to jump out of his chest, breaking a few ribs in the process. His fear was so immense. But knew he'd rather be face to face with whoever killed him than be a coward and never know.

But when he did come face to face with her, he could feel everything relax and calm down. Gran. Oh thank God. Relief rushed through him as he stood up, going to wipe away the tears that weren't there anymore. It was just a habit.

His Gran's face was sorrowful, Neville could see the pity written all over it as the woman pulled him into a tight hug. Neville figured she had been there for a while and he had never heard her come in. He could tell from her tearful and puffy red eyes. Just like his.

It took him a while to return the hug as his grandmother just continued holding him close, kissing him repeatedly on the head like she would when he was a little kid. He wondered if this was what that motherly affection felt like. That motherly affection he seemed to constantly be looking for. While he knew that Gran was the motherly figure in his life… but he couldn't help but have this feeling of force between them.

The two of them were forced together by horrible circumstances. Neville had the feeling that if his parents had not been tortured, his grandmother wouldn't have wanted much to do with him. He wouldn't have gotten along with her, and it would have been a very distant relationship. She was putting so much emphasis on him being like his father, and not filling the shoes that his father had left for him. It was hard on the Gryffindor. But if his parents would have never ended up in Mungos, then things would be drastically different.

Would he even be the same person?

Alas, he would never know.

"Let's get you home Neville…" Gran finally whispered as she let go of the teenager.

Neville shook his head. "I.. it's Christmas…" he whispered. "I always… always spend Christmas with them…" He did it every year. Every year it was the same. He'd spend a few hours with them and then in the evening he'd go back home and sip hot cocoa and try to push away the sadness inside him that he once again did not get what he wanted for Christmas. He really didn't think it was that much to ask for…

"I'm sure they won't mind sweetie…" Gran sighed. Her tone was somewhat different than it normally was, but it wasn't in the least bit reassuring. Her words actually bit into Neville, instilling him with the harsh reality of the situation. They didn't know who he was. They didn't know he was here. And if they did, they wouldn't realize that he had even been here when he came back again. The bitter reality hurt. He didn't like it. He didn't want to believe it sometimes.

He just looked at her has he forced himself out of her grasp. That was the wrong thing to say! Very wrong thing to say. His tearful and puffy eyes hardened into a very weak glare. "What's that supposed to mean?"

The older woman was obviously flustered. She must not have meant to have him think that. Obviously Neville had taken her words very differently than how she wanted him to. "Neville, that's not what I meant…"

Neville continued to glare at her, stepping closer to his mother's bed, further away from his grandmother. Closer to this fantasy world that he wanted so badly. "You know what you meant! You think I'm still a little kid! That I need to be told what I can and cannot do!" Her words had hit him so hard that he went on the defensive. It wasn't something that he normally did. He knew that his parents were gone. That they'd never know anything he was saying. It was almost as if he was talking to a living gravestone rather than two human beings, his parents. His words were falling on deaf ears every time he spoke to them. It was pointless. But he always felt better after talking with them. It felt good to get everything off his chest.

Gran shook her head again. "Neville Longbottom!" she snapped at her grandson, almost commanding him to calm down just in the way that she said his voice. He looked down at the ground immediately, finally realizing that he had gone out of line. "You need sleep." She was back to the borderline terrifying woman. That overly strict grandma that you didn't want to cross. "You can come back later!"

Neville felt like he was seven years old again. Like he was getting into trouble for traipsing dirt and mud through the freshly cleaned house after being in the garden with his grandfather for the entire day. He was scared of her.

"Y-yes m-ma'am…" he whispered. He knew when not to push the woman any further. And this was one of those times. It would just make things worse. He squeezed his mother's hand one final time. His mother didn't squeeze back.

Gran put her hand on his shoulder in what Neville figured was supposed to be a reassuring manner. "I'm sure you'll feel better when you get some sleep…"

Yeah. Right. Neville had that sinking feeling in his gut that he was never going to feel better. How could he? Look at the world around him! It wasn't a happy place anymore and Neville had some issues finding a happy place and staying there. As soon as he found it something would almost always come and ruin it for him.

But the teen simply nodded in agreement and let the older woman lead him out. For the first time since he began visiting his parents at St. Mungos, he did not receive a Droobles Bubble Gum wrapper from his mother. Gran obviously didn't take much if any notice to this, but Neville did. Gran had always told him to just throw them out, but Neville thought it was a way of communicating. He'd spend hours during the summer just looking at them, trying to figure out if there was maybe a message in them. He never had any lucky.

This was just further proof that his parents were fading out of existence. His father was already almost there. He didn't interact with anyone anymore. He just sat there in his bed. Staring blankly.

Gone.

And his mother was now following. Soon they'd both just be there. Soon she'd be like his father. Gone. Nothing alive in their minds at all. Basically dead. Neville found himself one again fighting back the tears. This sucked.

This sucked a lot.

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Neville didn't get very much sleep that Christmas Day. He still felt extremely sick and the feeling was getting worse and worse. He felt like there wasn't anything out there to believe in anymore. The young Longbottom had lost all the hope he had after going to visit his parents. It was all gone.

He did manage to get some sleep when his Great Uncle Algie gave him a Dreamless Sleep Potion (quite easily the greatest Christmas gift the man had ever given him) and forced him into a nice, deep, dark, welcomed sleep.

Maybe Gran was right. Maybe he did just need sleep. He felt so much better after getting a few hours of sleep. Like his mind was rejuvenated. He didn't feel quite so hopeless. Sure things still were sucky, but there were some things he could do to make things less sucky. The DA could definitely help. By standing up to Snape and the Carrows they could do their part. Sure there was no Harry. No one knew anything about where Harry was or what he was doing, if he was even alive anymore. Many people seemed to think that Harry had completely abandoned them, that he had left them all to fend for themselves. But Neville had the utmost faith in him. He knew that Harry Potter wouldn't abandon them like that.

The teenager slowly stretched, just wishing he could sink back into his bed and fall back asleep. But he knew that he was awake now. If he were to fall back asleep he'd be plagued with those horrible nightmares again. Nightmares of what was happening to Luna, what was going on with Harry, what was going on with Dean and Justin, his parents… or quite possibly the worst, what would happen to them (being the DA) if they got caught. Neville had a bad feeling that it wouldn't matter how pure his blood was if they got caught. He'd suffer the same fate as any half-blood or muggleborn. Possibly worse. No. That wouldn't be good at all.

He walked out into the kitchen and got himself an apple. He wasn't all that hungry, but he needed to eat or he'd be forced to eat something. And if Gran forced him to eat, it would probably be way to much and he'd just end up sick.

He didn't like being sick. Who did?

He heard hushed voices speaking in the other room and didn't want to eavesdrop. Eavesdropping was rude. While sometimes it helped him out with some well needed information, he'd much rather hear it directly than have to overhear it because they didn't trust him enough to know.

"Well he is his father's son…" he heard Gran's voice. And Neville took a bite out of the apple and went back to his room. He didn't want to hear anything about him. He hated it when people spoke about him behind his back.

He decided that this was the worst Christmas on record, but he didn't want it to end. As horrible as this entire holiday was, he'd rather be here than back at Hogwarts.

He never wanted to go back there.

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**A/n:** Leave some love!


	20. Prayer

**Neville Longbottom and the True Rumors**

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**Summary**: Everyone knows what happened to Harry in Deathly Hallows, but not much is known about the occurrences at Hogwarts. What really went down at Hogwarts while Harry was off Horcrux hunting?

**A/n:** For those of you that didn't realize, most of the chapter titles are song titles that often match Neville's inner feelings, especially ones that remain unwritten.

**Disclaimer**: Harry Potter is not mine. If it was Fred Weasley would NOT have died. Scarlet Pimpernel is the greatest book ever. I own a copy of it… and the movie… and the Broadway CD… but alas, not the rights.

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**Chapter ****19**: Prayer

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But soon enough, Neville was back at Hogwarts. He hadn't had a DA meeting since they took Luna. He didn't really have it in him. Ginny had been bugging him about it, as had Parvati and even some of the Hufflepuffs he talked to in Herbology. He said eventually.

He just wasn't ready right now.

But if that was the case, he wasn't sure he would ever be ready. There was just so much badness going on in the world, and it was all beginning to come down on the poor Longbottom. His grades were dropping. His mind constantly drifting off. He wouldn't admit it, but he was absolutely terrified.

And the only person who cared to notice was Susan. Susan and Neville slowly grew closer and closer throughout the year. He could tell that she was still scared. But everyone was scared. And it was just getting worse.

"Neville…" she whispered after Herbology one day as they were walking back up to the gloomy castle. "Neville… when are we gonna m-meet again?" Her voice was never more than a whisper.

Neville looked at the ground. "Soon Susie… I promise…"

She shook her head and grabbed his arm, looking up at him, an almost glare on her face. "You keep saying that Neville! Can't you see things are getting worse! We… we need the DA!"

Simply looking down at her, Neville nodded slowly. "Soon Susie… I promise…"

But her glare didn't soften. "You're not the only person who's lost someone close to them!" Neville looked at her silently for a few moments before it hit him… hard. Justin. How could he have forgotten about that horrible little exchange near the beginning of the year? That felt like such a long time ago. Looking at Susan, Neville could see she was still hurting because of that. Sure he knew that they were dating, but Neville didn't realize how close they had been. He couldn't even begin to fathom it.

"I… I'm sorry…" he said slowly once his vocal cords worked again.

Tears began to fill her glaring eyes that made Neville want to hug her and lie to her. How romantic. He wanted to lie to her and tell her that everything was going to be okay. That Harry was going to come and rescue all of them. And then they were going to get Justin from whoever had him and everything was going to be fine. He took a step closer to her, getting ready for the hug when it was stopped abruptly.

"No you're not!" she snapped as she pushed him away, the action causing the tears to fall. She brushed them away harshly and Neville felt even sicker than before. "You're so selfish Neville!" She was shouting at him. And Neville didn't understand what she was saying. He wasn't selfish, was he?

"What?" he asked, hoping she'd clarify.

"You mope around like the world just ended… I'm sorry about Luna, I really am… but Neville…" She took a deep breath to try and calm down. Guilt filled Neville, he didn't mean to make her that upset. Honestly. Before she had a chance to continue Neville pulled one of his best friends into a hug. She struggled against him. "LET ME GO!!!" she sobbed. But Neville didn't. He held her. He held her like he wished someone would have held him after Luna was taken away. He held her like he did right after the Dementors and Death Eaters came for Justin.

"Susie… I'm sorry…" he whispered against her struggling body.

Soft sobs began shaking her as she collapsed against Neville, into his welcoming embrace, sobbing into his shoulder. Neville rubbed her back. He still wasn't the greatest at this. But he thought he was calming her down.

Her sobs soon subsided, but she didn't move from his warm embrace. He closed his eyes and rested his head on top of hers, still rubbing her back. A few more silent sobs escaped the Hufflepuff before she moved to get out of his embrace.

Neville didn't want to let her go. While he had no feelings for her, he just… he needed someone. And Ginny just didn't do it for him. Sure she was a great friend, but she was just an angry person. She wanted to get the Carrows and Snape no matter what the cost. And that only made things worse.

"We need a DA meeting…" she whispered as the smaller girl returned Neville's hug. "Before people st-start taking things into their own hands."

Neville let go of her finally and looked at her. She wiped away the tears that his shirt hadn't picked up. She sniffled. "Hmmm?" He was a bit confused.

"Without the DA… the… people are taking things into their own hands. Trying to go after the Carrows without the who-whole safety in numbers thing…" Her voice was forced as she sat down, leaning against the tree.

"Why… why would they do that?" he asked slowly.

"They aren't satisfied just waiting for Harry Neville…" she whispered as she looked up at the gloomy Hogwarts castle. She wiped away more tears. "If you don't have a DA meeting soon… they're going to do something really stupid…"

Neville looked at her, really confused.

"Neville…" she whispered. "Please… I'm begging you… before Ernie or Terry or Mike get themselves killed."

He looked up at the castle.

Yes. He was selfish. He was very selfish. They had lost people too. Everyone had lost people, what made him any different?

"They… they're your friends too…" she whispered. She was making him feel even guiltier. "They got this… this hero complex… they want… to save everyone from the Carrows, and they're gonna kill them for it, I just know it…"

Neville felt his heart drop. "I… I'll do something," he whispered. He'd have a DA meeting. Yes. Yes he would.

If it would stop them from doing something that stupid.

And who knows. Maybe this would make him feel better. He really hoped it would. Maybe all he needed was something to push losing Luna away.

"Thank you Neville…" she whispered as she pulled him into another hug. Neville could even feel himself choking up. Guilt was the worst emotion in Neville's opinion. It not only made you feel bad, but the people around you as well. It was such a horrid emotion.

He slowly returned the hug, still totally oblivious to the ring on her left ring finger.

Neville Longbottom never thought that there were people out there suffering as much as he was, suffering more than he was. He never realized that Susie was one of those people. Never.

But he soon would.

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**A/n:** Sorry this was so short. It is a transition chapter. It was kinda hard to get out.

Leave some love.


	21. Walk Like A Man

**As We Stumble Along  
**

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**Summary**: Everyone knows what happened to Harry in Deathly Hallows, but not much is known about the occurrences at Hogwarts. What really went down at Hogwarts while Harry was off Horcrux hunting?

**A/n:** So… I'll give a special present to whomever figures out which minor plot detail from the seventh book I have omitted (not counting Ginny). Heehee.

To get an idea for around what time it is in Harry Potter land, it is late January or early February. Easter fell on March 30th in 1997, so that is when Ginny will leave. And then things'll get bad…

As for the answers to your Susie questions… tis a plot bunny for the sequel… if ya'll are interested in one ;).

**Disclaimer**: Harry Potter is not mine. Besides, if it was… it wouldn't be about Harry…

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**Chapter ****20**: Walk Like A Man

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It was not long after his conversation with Susan that Neville had the first DA meeting. Apparently Ginny had tried to have a meeting, but it flopped. It just wasn't the same without Neville running things. People apparently had a lot of faith in him.

He looked around, his mind quickly reeling about what to teach. Normally he planned these sort of things out, but he had so much homework lately, he didn't have time to do much besides that. He looked around at everyone as things began calming down. He took a deep breath and looked at Susan for a moment. A small smile formed on her face and it made him relax just a bit.

"Okay guys…" he said, looking around, but constantly going back for that needed eye contact with Susie. "We… I know we haven't met for a while… and I apologize for that…" His voice was forced just like it had been for his first DA meeting with him leading. He knew why he was nervous. He had let this fall to the wayside when the school needed it the most.

"But we're… we're gonna step it up now. Partner up."

People just looked at him for a moment before realizing that he was serious. He wasn't wasting any time. They gave him a few looks as they all began pairing off. And he waited until everyone had a partner.

"Now… duel…"

And that was the only command that Neville gave. It took a few moments, and people looked at him like he grew a second head. He had an idea. When no one did anything he pulled out his own wand and shot a particularly nasty curse into the group. That got them started and soon the curses were flying. They needed practice in dueling, especially if this battle came to Hogwarts. They needed to be half decent at dueling. No, they needed to be very good at dueling. Being half decent would get them all killed.

He walked around slowly knowing he too should be practicing, but there was an even number tonight. Ernie landed himself in detention. Other than that, everyone showed up. He'd give some tips here and there, or tell people to take a break. But it was an easy DA meeting on the young Longbottom. His mind kept drifting off elsewhere. He needed a mental break right now.

A lot of people could tell it just by looking at him that the poor kid was running on fumes, but he was running none the less. He was doing homework into the wee hours of the morning and then falling asleep and being plagued by nightmares that woke him up not too long later. It was a vicious and never ending cycle.

The DA meeting lasted for a good amount of time and soon everyone left through that cabinet that lead them to random places throughout the school.

Soon it was just him and Susan in the Room of Requirement. Ginny would've stayed if she didn't have a Dark Arts essay due the next day. Neville sighed as he sat down in a chair that magically made itself present. "Thanks Neville," she said with a smile. It seemed genuine, but it was difficult for him to tell.

"Welcome…" he said with the same smile on his face. He kept his eyes on her even if he wanted to pass out right in the chair. It was a very comfortable chair. This was why he loved the Room of Requirement. All you had to do was ask nicely for something, and the room gave it to you. Heck, you didn't even have to ask nicely sometimes.

He sighed gently as his eyes shut. "You need to get some sleep Neville…"

He just nodded in response as he felt Susan put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm serious Neville, you're running yourself into the ground…"

No he wasn't. He was fine. He was fine going on a few hours of sleep. "I'll be fine. Promise…" He opened his eyes and looked at her, trying to hide the lie in his face.

Susan sighed and nodded.

"Let's get out of here, before we get in trouble."

Slowly, Neville nodded in agreement as he got up out of the chair. She squeezed his shoulder again before disappearing through the cabinet. Neville followed suit with a soft yawn.

The nightmares still wouldn't leave him alone.

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The next day, Neville was asleep in Herbology again, making Susan angry and worried. Professor Sprout let him sleep. She knew it wasn't a good idea, but the kid was looking worse and worse as more time passed. She wasn't sure what he was doing, but he knew he had gotten himself quite a few detentions. Poor child.

Susan gently shook him at the end of Herbology. "Neville… you gotta get up," she whispered. Everyone else had already left. Today was an easy day for Neville, and he didn't even realize he fell asleep.

"Hmmm?" he asked groggily. He liked sleeping in class. While he missed a lot of information, normally he didn't have the horrid nightmares that he would have in his dorm.

"You fell asleep in Herbology Neville. But we need to get back to school…" She was so nice to him.

A soft yawn escaped Neville as he opened his eyes and looked at her. Her words finally sunk in and he nodded. "Yeah…"

But he didn't want to leave the classroom. Within the entire school, this was the only place that he felt safe. This was the only place he felt that they couldn't get him. Nothing could get him in the green house.

Slowly the Gryffindor stood up. "You need to sleep Neville," Susan repeated.

"I just did," Neville said, trying to joke, but Susan didn't laugh. "Susie. I'm fine. I just… couldn't fall asleep last night."

Susan just gave him that look. "You know I don't want to, but if I have to I'll sic Ernie on you…"

"Ernie?"

"Yes. We're all worried about you Neville…"

He blinked a few times before shaking his head. "I'll be fine…."

Sure he would. Even Neville himself wasn't sure if he could back that statement up. He wasn't fine. He was getting worse and worse. But he needed to do something or the Carrows would just get worse and worse. He realized that there were other people willing to help. But they all looked up to him, and he didn't know what to do.

Susan sighed and walked away, leaving Neville standing there with his thoughts.

---------------------------------

They met up in the Kitchens later that evening like they always did. Neville rarely went to dinner, and when he did, he'd see the Carrows or Snape and immediately lose his appetite. But he'd always make it to the kitchens later that evening. He found a shortcut from the Gryffindor common room there so he wouldn't get in trouble for being out after hours.

The house elves seemed to hero worship the young Longbottom (although Neville was sure they hero worshipped nearly everyone that walked through the kitchen doors). They got him whatever he wanted to eat and gave him more than anyone could possibly eat. Dobby always told him that he needed to eat more or he was going to get sick.

Neville thought that he ate plenty.

Fifteen minutes in and a good deal of his spaghetti later Susan walked in. She had tried to conceal her tears when she entered, but she did anyways. Instead of sitting down across from Neville like she usually did she sat down right next to him.

Neville was confused, she seemed so upset and he didn't know what. He had no idea what could possibly make her this upset. The house elves came up with a big slice of chocolate cake for her and she burst into tears again, burying her head in Neville's shoulder as the poor girl clung onto him for dear life.

"Susie…" Neville whispered, feeling a little awkward, but if she needed a shoulder to cry on, she knew she could come to him. This happened before.

She just sobbed uncontrollably into his shoulder, the large slice of chocolate cake long forgotten as he pulled her into a hug and rubbed her back, her hands clenching into Neville's shirt as she cried.

"Susie?" he repeated.

The Hufflepuff just cried. Neville didn't like this. But he didn't push her. If she needed to cry, let her cry. Her tears soon stopped and she simply clung to the Gryffindor. It was as if all her tears were spent. Every once in a while she'd hold back a sob.

Neville never asked her what happened. He felt he was better off not knowing. But there was still a part of him that was curious. Curious was to why the beautiful Hufflepuff had cried on his shoulder for what felt like hours that night.

Susan Bones never told him.

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**A/n:** Bah. Sorry about that. School has taken over my life. And I'm trying to get this to a certain point and having issues with it.

So two things... one I'm changing the name of the story to "As We Stumble Along" and who out there in interested in a sequel from the end of book 7 through to the Epilogue?

Leave some love. The more reviews I get, the sooner I update. :D


	22. Almost Like Being In Love

**As We Stumble Along**

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**Summary**: Everyone knows what happened to Harry in Deathly Hallows, but not much is known about the occurrences at Hogwarts. What really went down at Hogwarts while Harry was off Horcrux hunting?

**A/n:** THIS IS IMPORTANT!!!! Okay. Now that I've got your attention… Hannah/Neville? WTF is up with that?

Also for the name thing… official poll… who wants to keep this name, and who wants me to change it back to the old one. Majority wins.

I'd also like to apologize, school has taken over my life… I've had no time at all that isn't dedicated to school… but I'm getting there…

**Disclaimer**: Harry Potter is not mine. Besides, if it was… it wouldn't be about Harry…

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Chapter 21: Almost Like Being In Love

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Neville tried to keep everything as normal as possible. It was difficult, but he somehow managed. There were DA meetings at least once a week, sometimes he'd just meet up with people from the DA, almost like a miniature DA. In a ways it was almost like a support group. The detentions were getting more and more brutal. It was almost sickening that Snape would even let them do that. That anyone would let them do that.

But they did, and there was nothing they could really even do about that. It was the way things worked. And it sounds horrible, but it was true. It was just something that they were beginning to get used to. But many DA members decided that it was well worth it as long as Snape and the Carrows realized that they weren't in total control, that the students still ruled the school. And as long as their little resistance continued, the Death Eaters would never win.

And no one agreed with this more than Neville.

That was when things with the DA began getting serious. Very serious. It was almost as if they were asking to be tortured, asking to be killed. But they were helping people, saving innocent first and second years from the Carrows. But more and more people were dropping out of the more… intense DA activities. It was mainly the hardcore DA members that participated in them. Neville, Ginny, Seamus, Ernie, Mike, Terry, sometimes Hannah or Susan. Sometimes other members decided to show up. It all depended on what was going on and what crazy ideas came out of Ernie's mind.

For the first time, Neville felt like he was doing the right thing. He felt as if what he was doing was going to make a positive impact on… something. At least that was what he hoped.

That was all they could do anymore. Hope that what they were doing was doing some good in the world. It was the only thing that kept most of them going. That's what got most of them through all the detentions and everything.

But Neville soon received something better. Something that completely solidified him as the leader he needed to be for the DA. He got a little message from a special someone on one of the DA coins that just made him feel so much better. He had been sitting in the common room, too exhausted after the nights detention (which he received for some stupid reason that he didn't even recall) to walk up the steps to his dorm room.

His eyes were unfocused as his mind wandered here and there, just thinking about Harry and what he was doing with Ron and Hermione. Thinking about Luna and praying that wherever she was she was going to be okay… trying to stay hopeful. He wouldn't allow himself to think of how horrible his school had become. How horrible his second home had become so it was more of a prison than a school.

He was getting more and more exhausted. He once slept through Advanced Charms, and Flitwick didn't seem to really care.

He was almost asleep in the chair when he felt this odd… warming sensation in his pocket. At first he thought he was just imagining it. He thought his mind was playing tricks on him, but he slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out the DA's gold galleon. He just stared at it for a while, not bothering to focus on it. When he finally did, the words caused a huge smile to grow across his face.

Right around the outside read the six best words Neville ever read:

_"I'm fine. Dean too. DA forever! LL"_

His heart was floating high on a cloud. Luna was fine, all those feelings he had, those were simply paranoia. Luna was okay. His Luna. And Dean too! Maybe that meant something for Harry and Ron, but he heard nothing from them.

Sighing gently, Neville fell asleep with a smile on his face for the first time for as long as he can remember.

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Nothing could ruin Neville's mood the next day. Not Snape. Not the Carrows. Not even Valentine's Day (Neville's least favorite holiday ever). At least the holiday was subdue this year compared to last year. There were no singing cupids, or horrid decorations. It was almost like just another day of school. And it was Herbology day.

Neville worked with Hannah and Susan in Herbology, Hannah and Susan giggling madly when Neville told them about Luna. Neville didn't understand why Hannah started giggling, she just did and that got Susie giggling too.

And it never stopped. But Neville was so happy he didn't care. Luna was fine. Dean was fine. Nothing could ruin his day.

Even when it started to rain right after Herbology ended and Neville and Susan made their way to the corner of one of the greenhouses. Hannah gave them a weird look, but left them alone.

"You okay?" he asked slowly, looking at the beautiful Hufflepuff girl.

Susan nodded as she leaned against Neville and looked up at the canopy of green above them. This was their little sanctuary. A little bit of sunlight came from behind them, giving them a little bit of light, but not too much as to be overbearing.

Things fell silent for a little bit before Susie finally spoke. "I don't like today…"

Neville didn't say a thing, but he knew why and he knew talking about it would just make things even harder for her. Justin. Neville slowly wrapped his arm around her and she snuggled closer to him. Even in the greenhouses it was a bit cold.

"I know…" Neville finally whispered.

"And Hannah's making things even worse… with Ernie and it just…" he words trailed off as Neville squeezed her shoulder.

Silence.

Neville didn't notice the tears running down his friend's cheeks until she sniffled quietly.

"Susie… please don't…" He stopped. Who was he to tell her to stop? The poor girl was going through hell, she deserved to cry all she wanted to. They stared in each other's eyes for a few very long seconds before it happened.

Neither can really explain exactly what happened that afternoon in the greenhouse. Maybe it was the atmosphere of the private sanctuary, maybe it was raging teenage hormones. Maybe there is no explanation.

But on February 14, 1997, Neville Longbottom got his first kiss.

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**A/n:** I once again apologize for the lack of posting lately. But school has taken over, and I want to re-read DH again, because I kinda forget what happened….

Leave some love. :D


	23. Harder

As We Stumble Along

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**Summary**: Everyone knows what happened to Harry in Deathly Hallows, but not much is known about the occurrences at Hogwarts. What really went down at Hogwarts while Harry was off Horcrux hunting?

**A/n:** Title remains the same. I'm almost at the 300 mark. This excites me! I know some of my timing is off, but I plan on reading DH over Thanksgiving Break. I have more ideas for the sequel where I don't have the book that I have to tie in.

I love my secondary characters! does a little dance

**Disclaimer**: Harry Potter is not mine. Besides, if it was… it wouldn't be about Harry…

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Chapter** 22:** Harder

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That wasn't exactly how Neville imagined his first kiss to be. Maybe his grandfather told him too many fairy tales when he was younger, but he always expected it to be something magical. And this was anything but magical.

The kiss ended as soon as it started. It was quick, it was awkward. And it wasn't what he wanted. As of more recent times he always wanted his fist kiss to be from Luna. Luna was the epitome of beauty and even perfection. And the more time he had spent with Luna, the deeper and deeper in love he fell with the girl.

"I'm sorry…" Susan said quickly, looking at the ground.

"Me too…" Neville whispered after a few moments of silence. Well this suddenly became very awkward. Horribly awkward. They both had obvious feelings towards other people (Justin and Luna), but they kissed anyways.

Susan slowly got up. "I'll just… go back to my common room…" she said softly.

Neville shook his head and got up. "Don't go back alone…" he said as he looked at her, even if she wouldn't make eye contact with him. "It's dangerous…"

Even Susan couldn't fight that. It was dangerous going anywhere alone in the castle anymore. Everything was just so horrible.

Neville walked her back to her common room, and went to the kitchens. They walked in silence, an almost tense and awkward silence, but Neville knew they could bounce back from this. They were really close, and it just… happened.

When he made it to the kitchens he almost did a double take. Everything was decorated in here, a complete opposite of the dismal castle. There were red hearts everywhere and red and pink heart shaped confetti falling from the ceiling.

Neville nearly turned around and left, but he was stopped by a house elf.

"Mr. Longbottom!" she squeaked. It was Zarney, the house elf that seemed to be absolutely in love with Neville. She borderline hero-worshipped the young Gryffindor.

"Hey Z…" he said as he looked towards the door. "I just… I'm gonna go back to my room…" He didn't like it in here. He hated Valentine's Day. With a passion.

"Don't you want some cake?"

Out of nowhere a huge slice of chocolate cake appeared in front of him. And how could he say no to that? It smelled good. It looked good. And he sure as hell could use some chocolate cake right now.

Zarney led him over to one of the small booths in the kitchen, right past Hannah and Ernie who seemed to be passing the time by making out in the small booth. Neville certainly didn't have to see that. But at least they seemed happy. Deep down he was happy too, but he was just having issues showing his joy right now.

Neville sat down and stared at the cake. "Chocolate cake solves anything Mr. Longbottom…" Zarney said slowly as she jumped up to sit next to Neville.

That just made him think of Professor Lupin and how horrid things must be for him right now. And how amazing he was. He truly hoped that he was okay.

He took a small bite of the cake and the goofiest grin spread across Zarney's face that made Neville laugh. What a goofy little creature, but adorable all the same. "See I tolds you it would make you feel better!" she grinned happily.

Another chuckle escaped him. "Thanks Z…"

And within five minutes, the entire cake was gone.

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Thankfully, Valentine's Day was only one day, but alas, the next day was Dark Arts and Muggle Studies. And things were getting really bad. Really really bad. Neville would always leave the class feeling sick and disgusted with the fact that people could be that horrible. That human beings were capable of that sort of evil.

He often gave people too much credit.

He was walking to his dorm when he ran into a bunch of Slytherins.

Oh joy. Just what he wanted to do. Talk with the Slytherins.

He tried to get around them but no matter where he went, there they were.

"What's wrong Longbottom, scared?" Pansy Parkinson laughed.

"N-no.." Neville stuttered which caused them all to laugh.

"Suuuuureee…" Theodore Nott laughed. Neville gripped his wand in his pocket, but he knew that cursing a Slytherin, let alone a member of the Carrow's special squad was a one way trip to detention. And even though he wanted to make a point, getting a detention because he cursed Pansy Parkinson. He often dreamed about transfiguring her into a pug. At least she'd then be more pleasant to look at. Alas, he didn't get into NEWT level Transfiguration. So he couldn't do that.

"I'm not!" He tried to sound confident. But no matter what, he had a feeling this wasn't going to end well for him. Either get cursed by the Slytherins, or go to detention, which might also include being cursed by Slytherins.

"Then why are you sweating?" Daphne Greengrass grinned, showing all her perfect teeth. She was a beautiful girl, with a horrid personality. "He's sweating like a pig!"

"Shut up!" Neville shouted. Okay, admit it, that took some guts. No one told the Slytherins to shut up.

"What did he say?" Theodore laughed.

"I think he told us to shut up…" Daphne repeated as she twirled her wand in her fingers, looking at Neville before stopping her wand, pointing it right at Neville.

"I believe that merits a detention," Teddy smiled.

"Wh-what?!" Neville asked in shock. He… he didn't mean to. He didn't want a detention. Not at all. And especially not for something like telling Daphne Greengrass and Theodore Nott to shut up. Although, he was quite proud of himself for doing that.

"Maybe two," Daphne added causing the once silent Millicent Bulstrode to laugh.

Neville's heart started racing when he felt someone bump into him from behind. He turned to see yet another Slytherin. One that got sorted with him, but he couldn't remember her name. Neville locked eyes with the girl for a second before she broke her gaze away from Neville and turned to look at Teddy.

"Teddy! Come quick!" she shouted, almost seeming excited. "There are some third years doing… illegal… um… stuff in the library!"

Daphne and Teddy lowered their wands. "You sure Tracey?" Daphne asked.

The girl nodded and Daphne, Teddy and Millicent ran off towards the library.

Neville just stared at Tracey. He had had classes with her for almost seven years and never heard the girl talk before. He just knew she was a Slytherin, and most of the time, Slytherins were bad news.

"Watch your back Longbottom…" she said, with a forced coldness in her voice before staring at him for a brief moment. "You owe me… big time…"

Then with a small smile and a wink she ran off after her Slytherin friends.

Now that.

Was odd.

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After his encounter with the band of Slytherins (a part of him wondered where Malfoy and his cronies were, but he was secretly glad they weren't there), Neville ended up in his dorm, reading his Herbology notes. He sighed softly and sunk back into his pillows. He had yet to tell Seamus that Dean was okay, but he was asleep long before Seamus even entered the room.

Things were certainly getting harder and harder as time passed.

And Valentine's Day… it really, truly, honestly… was the worse holiday.

Ever.

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**A/n:** Two chapters in one week you lucky dogs you! I am one review away from 300. I am so freaking excited it isn't even funny.

So I hope you enjoyed this, it was kinda just a closer for the last chapter and the opener to the next little… mini-adventure I have planned. I love my Puffleheads!!!

So leave some love. Hopefully I'll write more on vacation. :D


	24. Better

**As We**** Stumble Along**

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**Summary**: Everyone knows what happened to Harry in Deathly Hallows, but not much is known about the occurrences at Hogwarts. What really went down at Hogwarts while Harry was off Horcrux hunting?

**A/n:** I'm writing. A lot. Heehee. I love vacations. No school… don' t have to think or anything.

I sincerely apologize for the attack of the minor characters in the beginning. I just love them all too much. Heehee. I'm also beginning to have much love for my fluff chapters. They're just fun to write, but lead me nowhere on the road to the end and later to the sequel. Heehee.

**Disclaimer**: Harry Potter is not mine. Besides, if it was… it wouldn't be about Harry…

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**Chapter**** 23**: Better

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The next day was hell on Earth. Time seemed frozen he nearly got a detention in Muggle Studies because he was staring blankly at the clock, willing the time to go faster. But thankfully he managed to make up some sort of story that saved his ass. He was getting better at that sort of thing.

But the day concluded much like it began. Neville sat in his dorm, staring outside. Right now he was watching the snow fall softly on the Hogwarts grounds. One of his fondest Hogwarts memories was in his sixth year, right after Herbology when he was walking back to his common room and he got hit in the back with a large snowball.

He turned around, expecting to see one of the Slytherins standing behind him, ready to throw another one. But instead, he saw Justin. That escalated into a rather large snowball fight on the grounds. He actually felt like a real teenager for once, even if it was only for a few hours, the fight never seemed to end. He was on a team with the Ernie, Hannah and Michael Corner. And the other team was Justin, Susan, Terry Boot, and Anthony Goldenstein. Eventually they declared it a draw and went into the kitchens for some hot chocolate.

That was quite easily the highlight of his sixth year. He just wished he could do something like that with them again to relieve the stress that the Death Eaters had put on the entire world. To make them feel like kids again. Alas, that wasn't going to happen any time soon.

He was daydreaming, remembering that day so clearly that he didn't even hear Seamus enter the room. He had been daydreaming a lot, but most of the time it was about Luna, so he was pretty sure that Seamus just got used to him staring blankly at something, his mind millions of miles away.

He had totally forgotten to tell Seamus about Dean.

---------------------------------

The next few days were bad. Neville had planned a DA meeting that Friday, and he was rather looking forward to it. But that made the week go so much slower because he was highly anticipating his meeting.

Things between him and Susan were a little awkward, but they obviously both still wanted to be friends. Neville had tried to push the kiss as far away as he could. He didn't want to think about it anymore.

He pawned it off on them both being upset about everything. That was all it was.

After his last class on Friday afternoon, Neville sat in the Room of Requirement, just waiting for people to arrive. He rather liked the way the room had decorated itself. There was a soft snow falling on the already snow covered floor. The room was quite large, and there were trees and boulders everywhere. The perfect field. It was very much like a small area of the Hogwarts grounds right inside of Hogwarts. They all needed to blow off some steam. And this was the perfect way to do it.

Ginny was the first one to arrive. She was the only one that knew of Neville's plans to cheer everyone up. "This is great Neville," she smiled as she pulled the coat close. It was kinda cold in the room. But Neville didn't seem to mind. He just sat there.

Waiting for people to arrive.

Soon there was a fairly large group of DA members there. Neville noticed Ernie's eyes light up when he realized what was going on. And Hannah laughed. This was going to be fun.

He waited another few moments because there were a few people missing, people that he really wanted to be here for this. Susan and Michael were nowhere to be seen, but Neville knew he couldn't wait any longer for them.

"All right guys," he said as everyone's smaller conversations ceased and all eyes were on him.

"'If you noticed it is kinda snowing, and we're in coats and stuff."

The Room of Requirement had outdone itself once again. It really seemed like they were outside rather than in the prison-like castle. There were even wind gusts.

Without another word of warning, Neville threw a large snowball at Ernie, the snowball splattering all over him.

And after that it was all out war. There were no real teams, they were just throwing snowballs at each other and having fun. Sure people made small alliances. Neville somehow ended up forming an alliance with Hannah against Ernie after he snuck up behind her and put a handful of snow down the back of her cloak.

For the first time in a while, Neville was laughing and smiling. He might have been freezing cold, but what could be more fun than spending an afternoon in a huge snowball fight with friends. It made him feel so much better. And the fight lasted a while. People like Ernie and Terry wouldn't stop even if the rest of them were completely exhausted.

But soon enough they both gave up and they all sat in the snow.

Exhaustion. But it was a good sort of exhaustion. Neville just wished that Susie and Mike could have been there to have fun with them. Everyone needed to let loose every once in a while or they would all go crazy. And going crazy wasn't a good thing at all.

"Thanks Neville," Parvati smiled as she messed around with the snow around her, Lavender making a snow angel next to her.

"No problem…" he smiled as he leaned back in the snow, looking up at the snow falling from the ceiling and taking a few deep breaths.

After a while of talking and playing in the snow, people slowly began leaving. Neville didn't even really realize people were leaving until it was just him and Seamus in the snow. "That was fun…" Seamus smiled. That was the first smile he had seen on Seamus' face in a long time.

"Yeah," he sighed.

And after the weekend everything would be back to normal, back to the torturous Carrows and horrid classes. But this was a great release from the stress.

"How's Herbology going for you?" Seamus asked, just trying to keep the conversation going.

"Pretty well…" Neville responded simply. "We're working with butbotubers again…"

"Butbotubers?" Seamus asked. Neville knew that Seamus didn't like Herbology so it was no surprise to Neville that Seamus didn't remember. "Are those that… boil stuff?"

That made Neville laughed as he nodded. "Yeah…"

"Wouldn't it be great if we put some of that shit in Alecto's drink… let's see her talk about Muggles the way she does with boils coating her throat."

Neville shook his head. "As horrible a woman as she is, that could prove to be fatal…"

Seamus sighed. "Like any one would miss her if she died… the Wicked Bitch of the West…"

Neville was silent. He didn't know what he could say to that.

"Don't do it Seamus…" he finally said after a while of silence.

Seamus sighed again. "I wasn't going to… I was just saying that it would be great if that would happen. We wouldn't have that horrid class of hers, and Dark Arts would probably be cancelled because Amycus would just be so upset and heartbroken if anything happened to his precious Alecto…"

Neville sat up and looked at Seamus. He really really hoped that his friend was joking. Poisoning Alecto Carrow was not the smartest thing to do. And Seamus wasn't the brightest person in the world either. "I'm serious Seamus!"

He could tell just by the look on Seamus' face that he was pondering it. "They would hunt you down and torture you so you'd wish you were dead!" They would make Seamus like his parents. And Neville didn't want that for anyone.

Seamus sat up as well. "I won't do it Neville."

"Promise?" Neville asked, looking Seamus straight in the eye. He wanted to be sure that Seamus wouldn't do anything that horribly stupid.

"Promise…."

With that the two friends stared at each other for the longest time before leaving the Room of Requirement and heading back to the Gryffindor Common Room.

Neville hoped that Seamus would take his advice and not do anything too stupid.

Like poisoning Alecto Carrow.

But that was something that Seamus would have no problems doing, and that worried Neville. A lot.

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**A/n:** So here ends another chapter. I just keep whipping them out. Even if they are some fluffy chapters, they all add to the overall plot in the end… most of the time.

So I was wondering, I love my Hufflepuffs… would anyone out there be interested in reading a story about our favorite Hufflepuffs. It might be a while before it is up, but it would have Justin as the main character. If you're interested please tell me.

I was also wondering if you like these fast updates or if you would rather have some time in between so I'll have more to update when I go back to school? And watch, now after this chapter I'll get writers block again. :-P

Leave some love:D


	25. Faster

**As We Stumble Along**

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**Summary**: Everyone knows what happened to Harry in Deathly Hallows, but not much is known about the occurrences at Hogwarts. What really went down at Hogwarts while Harry was off Horcrux hunting?

**A/n:** I posted the Pufflefic… it is under the title "Nicest Kids in Town" if you're interested. :D

**Disclaimer**: Harry Potter is not mine. Besides, if it was… it wouldn't be about Harry…

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Chapter 24: Faster

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Time flew by. Thankfully it seemed like Seamus took Neville's advice and did not poison Alecto Carrow. That would have been the stupidest thing in the world to do. Poisoning Alecto Carrow. Talk about a death wish.

Easter break was cut down to a long weekend, but Neville still went home. Anything to get away from the prison like castle. If something came up that he would never have to return there he would be happy. But even then, he knew a lot of people looked to him, being the leader of the DA. He couldn't just abandon them. Not at all.

So he returned, sitting in a compartment with Susan, Hannah, and Ernie. He looked at Susan every now and then, but it was a lot of small talk with Ernie to keep the awkward tension between him and Susan to a minimum.

Neville didn't even realize that Ginny hadn't returned to Hogwarts until he made it up into the common room. Seamus slowly walked up to the DA leader when he entered the room. "Where were you?" he snapped somewhat angrily. Dude, what was up with Seamus? He was acting so weird.

"What?"

"On the train, where were you?"

Neville gave him a weird look. "I was sitting with Ernie and them, is that a crime?"

That wasn't the smartest thing to do. "So you pick them over me then, huh? Just leave me all alone to sit there in misery on the long ride back to this hell on earth!?"

Neville looked at him for the longest time in silence. Something was really really wrong with Seamus. Extremely wrong with Seamus.

"I'm… sorry?" he said slowly, not sure of what else to say to Seamus. He was probably just in one of his moods and there was no reason to get upset about it, he'd come back in a day or two and apologize for being such a prick.

"Maybe you should have been in Hufflepuff," he snapped. "Seems like you'd rather be with them than worry about your real friends! Ginny didn't come back, but you don't know that because you were too busy with Ernie and Susan!"

And with that, Seamus stormed up to the dorm and slammed the door.

Neville sighed and sat down in the chair by the fireplace, and he was soon asleep.

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The next morning at breakfast, Neville was slowly eating a muffin and staring at the table when Seamus entered with a shit-eating grin plastered on his face. He sat down a good distance away from Neville, chatting it up with some of the sixth years.

The next thing Neville knew the hall fell silent as Alecto Carrow began gagging painfully after taking a sip of her drink. Her hands went up to her throat and it looked like Amycus was about to have a coronary. Neville's stomach dropped as he looked at Seamus who was obviously holding in laughter.

He didn't. No.

No one was that stupid.

Wait. Let's edit that. Seamus was that stupid and rash.

The next thing any of them knew, Alecto rushed out of the Great Hall with Amycus by her side. As horrible of a person she was, Neville didn't' want to see her die. He didn't want to see anyone die. Death was so permanent, and she deserved worse than death in a way. She deserved to pay for all the hell she put on people, for all the people she hurt.

But not death. No one deserved to die before their time.

---------------------------------

Needless to say, Dark Arts and Muggle Studies were cancelled that day. And Seamus was literally strutting around the Gryffindor Common Room, obviously so very proud of himself for what he had done. He was a hero once people found out he was the one who poisoned Alecto Carrow. He got all the attention he wanted for doing one of the stupidest things Neville ever heard of.

But all that attention was not a good thing. Madame Pomfrey and Professor Sprout managed to save Alecto (obviously scared into helping her). And neither Alecto nor Amycus were too happy about her close brush with death. They personally questioned every student to force out of them who did this to her.

It didn't take long for Seamus' name to come up.

After Muggle Studies one day, Seamus Finnigan disappeared.

He just disappeared. Alecto called him up to the front of the class and made everyone else leave. After that, no one saw him. He just fell off the face of the planet.

Over a week passed and classes continued like normal. Seamus was just… gone. Nowhere to be found. And it highly worried Neville. While the other Gryffindor may have been extremely angry with him, he was still Neville's friend. And Neville didn't want him hurt.

Neville stopped going to meals. He would eat in the kitchens with Zarney.

He spent more time with Ernie, Terry and Michael, still highly worried about Seamus. He as beginning to fear the worst.

But he got what he wanted. He got to poison that horrible woman, and everyone was talking about him. That was all anyone was talking about: how Seamus Finnigan finally did something to directly lash out against the Carrows.

But had he paid the ultimate price?

"That was just idiotic…" Terry commented with a small sigh.

"I don't know, that took guts…" Ernie said with a nod. "I wouldn't've been able to do that."

Mike nodded. "I agree…"

Neville was silent, pretending to be obnoxiously interested in the Herbology book in front of him.

"It was still stupid. It probably cost him his life. And she didn't even die!"

Silence.

No. Seamus wasn't dead. He just… couldn't be.

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**A/n:** Leave some love!


	26. Stronger

**As We Stumble Along**

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**Summary**: Everyone knows what happened to Harry in Deathly Hallows, but not much is known about the occurrences at Hogwarts. What really went down at Hogwarts while Harry was off Horcrux hunting?

**A/n:** Bah… apologizes times a million. Things have been insane and I've been going through a Marauders phase… hence my Regulus fic I posted a while back. I'm gonna get back to this ASAP. I promise!

**Disclaimer**: Harry Potter is not mine. Besides, if it was… it wouldn't be about Harry…

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**Chapter 25:** Stronger

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Things got worse and worse. No one heard of or saw Seamus in weeks. The Carrows were beating up more and m more on poor Neville. Everything seemed to be his fault, even if he didn't do it. Alecto made a full recovery after Seamus poisoned her and she seemed to come back with a vengeance. Any member of the DA had to be careful not to breathe the wrong way or risk being verbally attacked and thrown into detention. It almost seemed as if the Carrows knew who the members were.

Neville missed a lot of class. But without Ginny there, he had no one. He heard nothing more from Luna and Ginny and Neville was clinging to hope, but it was getting harder and harder to hold on. He could see his fellow DA members losing hope as the Carrows tortured them mercilessly.

It made Neville want to curl up and cry some days. He never could imagine it ever getting this bad. Sure he knew things would get bad, but never ever this bad. Ever. It was disheartening. And it was doing exactly what the Carrows wanted it to do. It was causing everyone to lose hope.

Harry was never going to save them. Harry was gone. Harry abandoned them. Harry wasn't going to help them anymore. They had to help themselves or face the consequences. But helping themselves lead to detentions.

People were starting to lay low, not do insane DA things. Neville still would occasionally. Michael Corner and Ernie Macmillian were a duo to watch out for. The two would do anything to make the Carrows' lives a living hell. Ernie still seemed to be going after them because of what they did to Justin. Michael just seemed to be out to do it for his own personal gratification. Neville told them to stop, but they seemed to refuse to.

And then all the stuff they did, Neville got the brunt of the punishment. He was half tempted to run away. But only cowards ran away. And Neville Longbottom was not a coward anymore. He used to be, but he couldn't be a coward anymore. He was in too deep to be a coward.

But when Michael Corner got caught unchaining a Ravenclaw first year that was being unjustly punished, it was Neville that saved him. It was Neville that found him barely walking out of the dungeons. Neville was on his way from the greenhouses (he had a pass from Sprout) and he saw Michael stumbling and then falling flat on his face.

He rushed over. "Mike…" he said slowly.

Michael just groaned. He looked like he went through a wringer, and Neville felt sick when Michael looked up him. He was a mess. His stomach was tying in knots as he helped Michael to his feet.

The guy cried out in pain and Neville closed his eyes. "Come on Mike, the infirmary isn't too far away." But Neville knew that there wasn't much that the infirmary could do. Madame Pomfrey had specific instructions on who to heal and what to heal. Punishment injuries weren't allowed to be healed, but poor Michael couldn't walk. Neville was practically carrying him to the infirmary.

Neville nearly fell a few times himself, but managed to get Mike to the infirmary. But he managed it. He felt sick and fell onto one of the beds once he got there. It was late, and Neville knew he had to go back to the dormitory, but he didn't really want to right now. Thankfully the next day was Saturday and he could sleep the entire day away.

But he never slept in his dorm any more. It went from having five rowdy occupants, to having one extremely lonely one. When Neville used to wish for silence, now all he wanted was the noise back. He just wanted to have Seamus and Dean… Harry and Ron. It felt so empty without them. He wanted to go find someone to come in the dorm with him just to make the silence stop.

---------------------------------

His wish came true no three days later when Seamus returned. But his return only made things worse. He didn't say a word. He looked worse than Michael had, and Neville knew better than to ask what happened to him. He seemed almost like a zombie. He stared, and said nothing. He had gashes all over him, bruises… but nothing was as painful to look at as the dead look in his eyes.

"Seamus…" Neville whispered as he stared at his friend from across the room. Seamus was just staring blankly out the window, the moon illuminating his scars, making him look almost like he had come back from the dead.

Seamus didn't say a word. And Neville didn't try anymore.

---------------------------------

Exhaustion was finally getting the best of poor Neville. It was at a DA meeting where he finally just collapsed. He was supposed to be helping them, but he hadn't been sleeping… he hadn't been eating… he was just ready to run. Right now. But he couldn't run. He wouldn't allow himself to run.

"NEVILLE!" Neville wasn't sure who cried his name out (although it might've come from multiple people). It took him a few moments to come to and he slowly opened his eyes to look right up at Ernie. "Dude… you need to get some sleep."

Neville didn't say anything as he tried to force himself up. "Sorry about that…"

Ernie forced him back to the ground. "Neville… you're done for the day. The meeting's over guys… go back to your common room."

"No--" Neville protested, but he knew that Ernie was right. He couldn't just run on fumes. He had been running on that for the past few days and it finally caught up with him as he fell back on the ground.

Ernie pulled something out of his pocket as a sofa suddenly appeared out of the floor under Neville to elevate him a little bit. Ernie grabbed a vial out of his pocket and uncorked it. "Drink this Neville, it'll help."

The room wouldn't have given it to him if he didn't require it. But Neville shook his head. "I'm fine Ernie."

"Bloody hell Neville, stop being the hero and just take it."

Never drink anything that you don't know what it is. But Ernie had it up against his lips. Neville tried to resist. He really did, until Ernie pinched his nose shut and he opened his mouth to breathe. Ernie forced it down his throat.

And Neville was out.

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**A/n:** Yay Neville.

Review please! I'm sorry for the lack of writing.

Would anyone be interested in a Justin/Ernie friendship one?


	27. The Real Thing

**As We Stumble Along**

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**Summary**: Everyone knows what happened to Harry in Deathly Hallows, but not much is known about the occurrences at Hogwarts. What really went down at Hogwarts while Harry was off Horcrux hunting?

**A/n**: Hundreds upon millions of apologies.

I'd also like to throw out there that I'm trying to keep this as canon as possible, but it is difficult when your 7th Harry Potter book is 200 miles away. So I'm doing my best.

**Disclaimer**: Harry Potter is not mine.

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**Chapter 26**: The Real Thing

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Neville woke up to someone slapping his face. "Come on Neville, that's it…" It was Susan's voice. His eyes were opening slowly.

"Lavender…" his voice was pinched and unused. Neville was quite confused.

Susan shook her head. "No Neville, its Susie. Come on, open your eyes for me." She sounded so worried. His mind was still swimming, not connecting anything. It took him another few moments before his eyes managed to open, revealing his red-headed best friend.

"Susie." His voice was still slow as he looked at her.

She nodded, a teary smile on her face. "You scared us." It took a while for him to realize that he was still in the Room of Requirement. Once his eyes finally came back into focus, he could see Ernie and Terry, and a few other DA members.

"I did?" The confusion was evident in his voice. Susan nodded, wiping the tears away.

"You've been out for three days man," Ernie said apologetically. Neville was still trying to get his bearings back. Three days? It was slowly coming back, passing out at the meeting, Ernie forcing a potion down his throat… then some freaky dream-type place. He didn't clearly remember what he dreamed about, but he did recall not wanting to wake up when he felt himself being pulled away from it.

Neville closed his eyes again, finally realizing that Susan was running her hand through his hair. "Oh," he whispered. It felt so comforting, the repetitive motion of her hand.

She nodded, biting the inside of her lip. "Ernie here thought he killed you," she said with a weak chuckle. Neville opened his eyes again, looking up at her in complete silence. The entire room was silent. Were they all that worried about him? It would seem as if they were. "He gave you some sort of sleeping potion that… you wouldn't wake up."

It took a moment for Neville to process what she was saying. "What day is it?" he asked slowly.

"Monday," Hannah responded from somewhere in the group of people behind Susan, but Susie was the only person that Neville could focus on. "You just wouldn't wake up," she whispered. Neville got his eyes to focus on Hannah and he saw Ernie pull her into a one armed hug. "We were all so worried," her voice was strained, like she had been crying.

"I… I missed class?" That was the only response that Neville could come up with. He missed class, meaning he was a dead man. No one missed class unless they were in the hospital wing. And even if one was in the hospital wing, the Carrows had to come and deem you sick enough to be excused from class. "Shit…"

Susan's rhythmic hand sweeping through his hair stopped, causing his attention to be back on her. "It's gonna be okay Neville," she sighed, probably seeing the look of fear in his eyes. "I'll be in detention with you." Well that sent his mind spinning. Why? Why would she be in detention with him? Susan kept herself out of detention no matter what, and Neville didn't blame her.

"Why?"

"She wouldn't leave your side Nev," Terry explained when Susan refused to. "She's been here the whole time. We tried to get her to go to class, and she just… stayed here."

Neville bit his lip when he saw Susan nod. "That was stupid," he responded simply.

"Was it?" she whispered. Neville didn't really respond to that. He let things fall into silence.

---------------------------------

Tuesday was bad for Neville. At breakfast he received the letter telling him to go down to the dungeons after dinner for his detention. He saw Susan getting the same letter at the Hufflepuff table. She had a brave façade, but Neville could just barely see the fear she tried to keep hidden.

Thankfully, Tuesday was the day he had Herbology, meaning he could relax and be himself. Herbology was the one class he could make it through without feeling horrible about. He could get absorbed in his work and not think about Luna, Ginny, Harry, Ron, the Carrows, Seamus… he could just focus on the plant and let it consume his whole being. He almost completely forgot about his detention that evening.

He got so absorbed in his work that he went over into his free time. He didn't care. It got his mind away from the world, and he'd give anything to have that happen more often.

That evening came faster than he could've hoped. He met up with Susan in the kitchens and they went to the detention together. Susan latched onto his hand as they got closer. Susan had only gotten two detentions this year (a record low for all DA members). She never spoke about them (no one ever did), but he knew they were hard on her.

He squeezed her hand, trying to calm her down, but his own heart was racing. They entered the room right on time. Neville learned the hard way that that was the only way to go to detention. If he got there early, they'd think he was eager to be tortured and make things infinitely worse. If he got there late, they'd keep him later for not showing up on time.

"Right on time," Theodore Nott smiled. Neville had to stop the sigh of relief. Detentions with other students were never as bad as detentions with the Carrows. "I expected you to be late Longbottom." He didn't seem to be acknowledging Susan at all. Her grip got tighter when she saw the two lone chairs in the middle of the room.

"Sit," he commanded. A whimper escaped Susan and her grip on Neville got even worse. "I said SIT!" This time Susan released Neville's hand and went to sit in one chair. Neville slowly sat in the other one. They were facing opposite walls. Neville hadn't said a word and he didn't plan on it.

Neville's heart was racing to begin with, and now he found himself unable to move from the chair. Shit, shit, shit! He heard Susan whimper. "Susie… it's gonna be okay, I promise," he called over to her, causing Theodore to laugh. Theodore Nott was easily one of the vilest individuals that Neville came in contact with. People always thought Draco was the "bad Slytherin," but those people never got to know Theodore Nott. Sure the kid didn't speak that much, but when he did, his words were cruel and hurtful.

"Hear that _Susie_, Neville says everything will be okay. You can't tell me you still believe that." Another weak whimper escaped her, she was terrified. "Now I can make this bad for you, or not…" His hand ran down her pale skin.

"Don't touch me," she growled, but the fear was still there in her voice. It caused Neville's blood to turn to ice. He didn't want to think about what he was doing to her.

Teddy laughed. "You know… I've told you this quite a few times, but you're such a beautiful pureblood… what in the world were you doing with such a pathetically ugly mudblood? What was his name again? Justin? What a waste of magic. Makes me happy to think of what became of him. He's probably dead by this point. He'd never survive Azkaban…"

"Shut up," Susan whispered. Neville could hear the tears in her voice.

"Leave her alone Nott," a growl escaped him. Theodore liked messing with people's emotions, making them uncomfortable. He rarely used curses, he'd let his words cause all the pain he needed, and he was talented when it came to that.

Theodore laughed again. "And even if he does, what would he think if he found out the precious 'love of his life' was messing around with the bumbling idiot of Gryffindor house? You can do so much better than the two of them. You deserve better than the two of them."

Neville could feel the bile coming up in his throat as a weak sob escaped Susan. "Don't listen to him Susie, Justin's fin-" but he never got the chance to finish what he was saying when a red curse shot out from the corner of the room. He shouldn't have been that surprised that Theodore wasn't there alone. The almost too familiar pain from the Cruciatus curse rushed through him as he screamed in pain. It only lasted a few seconds, but it left him breathless, unable to move or do much of anything. The pain got worse and worse the more they exposed him to it.

"Look at me Susan," Theodore's whisper barely carried over Neville's ragged breathing. "I don't want to hurt you, you know that I don't. Don't make me hurt you." He trailed off and a muffled scream escaped Susan. The scream was soon amplified tenfold and a harsh slap echoed through the room. "Bitch bit me," he growled.

By this point, Susan was completely broken down. "I gave you the option of not making it bad, and you just made things ten times worse Susan Bones," Theodore laughed.

"Get off me," Susan managed to get out.

Neville tried to do something to get the charm off the chair to go help her. He couldn't move. It was at that moment that Blaise appeared out of the darkness, a sick grin on his face. "Had enough Longbottom?" he laughed.

Neville glared at Blaise. "You sick pervs!" He could hear Susan crying, whimpering, begging Theodore to leave her alone. Blaise punched Neville, causing stars to dance before his eyes for a few moments before a painful cry came from Susan. Neville was about to say something when he was hit with the Cruciatus Curse again. His mind went completely blank except for the pain. His screams sounded exactly the same as his father's in his nightmares.

He didn't know how long the torture went on, but when he was allowed to leave, Susan and Theodore were both already gone. "Where… Susie?" he managed to get out when he was freed from the chair (and proceeded to fall to the floor, his legs not wanting to support).

Blaise shook his head and laughed. "She's not here… why're you so worried? She only cares about that stupid mudblood. Like you even stand a chance against the _memory_ of the golden boy of Hufflepuff. You're more pathetic than I thought in the first place."

That hurt like a punch in the stomach. He looked up at Blaise. "This coming from the guy in love with Ginny Weasley," he managed to get out. He remembered hearing Pansy say something about that, and it honestly just slipped out.

"Get out Longbottom before I curse you again," he snapped. Neville coughed weakly before pulling himself up using the door.

"You know, she used… used to like you… before she saw who you truly were…"

That earned Neville a punch to the stomach he wasn't expecting. "And I told you… get out," Blaise growled before storming out himself.

Neville fell back to the ground and just sat there for a while before finding his way back to the Gryffindor Dorms. His mind drifted to Susan, he hoped she was okay. He didn't even want to think about what Theodore did to her. The girl was already uncomfortable around him to begin with (for reasons that Neville never knew about)…

He'd just have to find her at breakfast the next morning.

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**A/n:** Sorry for the long time without an update. Real life has taken over, and I had another route for this chapter, which might've been why I didn't get it out. But look for the alternate route as a companion fic (probably a one shot) about what happened to Neville while he was out for those three days.

So please review, I promise I'll try to update sooner this time.


	28. Some Enchanted Evening

**As We Stumble Along**

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**Summary**: Everyone knows what happened to Harry in Deathly Hallows, but not much is known about the occurrences at Hogwarts. What really went down at Hogwarts while Harry was off Horcrux hunting?

**A/n**: Hundreds upon millions of apologies.

School and computer problems are taking over.

**Disclaimer**: Harry Potter is not mine.

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**Chapter 27**: Some Enchanted Evening

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Susie was gone. Neville was worried sick about Susan. He didn't want to think about what happened to her, and Ernie shot him a look when he even mentioned it. He couldn't help it if he was that worried about Susan. Hell, she was his grip on sanity. He hated being so dependent on someone else, but that really was what happened with Susie. The two latched onto each other, especially after Luna disappeared. Susan kept him happy (or at least as happy as one could be living in a hellhole like this one).

She didn't show up until Muggle Studies that afternoon. Neville felt his heart break when he spotted her, and Seamus immediately left his usual seat next to Neville to allow Susan to sit next to Neville. She slowly sat down next to him, her eyes not meeting Neville's. Biting his lip, he reached under the table and took hold of her hand. Susan squeezed it, but didn't say a word.

Maybe Neville was better off not knowing what happened to her.

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The DA meeting became less and less frequent as the Carrows began cracking down even more upon the members. Neville tried his hardest to keep a brave face, but it was difficult when he saw everything deteriorating around him. Susan was different. She rarely spoke to anyone, but would grab onto whoever was nearest any time Nott would pass by. Neville wanted to hex the living daylights out of him for whatever it was he did to Susan. Seamus was the exact opposite. He knew how much the other Gryffindor missed Dean. But the less information they got on him, the more violent he got. Even after the stunt of poisoning Carrow, he still hexed any of their little Slytherin cronies at any chance.

Time went by slowly. A day felt like a week. A week felt like an eternity. It was painful. People were losing their spark. In response to that, the Carrow's punishments got harsher for smaller infractions. Coming to class late (even if it was only a moment late), being in the common room after a certain time… stupid little things.

Now Neville didn't like being tortured, not at all, but someone had to give people a bit of hope. Even if it was a false one, Neville was trying to give it to them.

It wasn't even a full week after the detention with Susan that he heard about his Gran. There was so much on his mind that it took a backseat to everything else. He was worried about Susan, worried about Seamus, worried about everyone else except his grandmother. Deep down, he thought that the elderly woman would be safe from the Death Eater's grasp simply because she was old. The Carrows called him into their office after dinner (and his heart was racing, unsure of what they wanted. Usually a call to their office ended horribly). They looked upon the tired and beat up young Gryffindor.

"Are you going to stop?" Alecto asked, an almost calm tone in her usually harsh voice.

Neville stared at her. "Stop what?" he asked, always playing innocent.

"Being an annoying little shit," Amycus growled, standing up. Alecto put her hand on her brother's shoulder, making him sit down again.

"I don't know what you're talking about sir." Neville bit his lip, trying to keep the panic down. Panicking in this situation would be really bad.

"I'm sure you know exactly what we're talking about Mr. Longbottom," Alecto stated smoothly. "But just to make sure you fully understand, I want you to listen to me very closely." Her words suddenly had a harsh accent, but overall her voice was still as smooth as ever. In some ways, she sounded like she was scolding a young child. "Your grandmother is in our custody…"

Neville completely missed the next part of her sentence as his mind fought to process what she just said. They had Gran!? What did the old woman ever do to them? His stomach had plummeted with the words. "So you stop acting up, she remains safe and sound. You act up, well, she's not really all that important to anyone besides you, so we'd have no problems getting rid of her."

A sick feeling bubbled up in his stomach. He wanted to cry, he wanted to scream and hex them for going after Gran. It was horrendously difficult to reel that emotion in. "Do you understand?" Amycus added. Neville's hands clenched into fists, his small fingernails digging into his palms. He could quickly reach for his wand and hex them before either knew what was coming.

"Mr. Longbottom," Alecto snapped, breaking Neville out of his thoughts. "Do you understand?"

Neville swallowed and looked up at her. "Yes ma'am." He fought to keep his voice even.

"Then you're dismissed," she sighed, opening the door with her wand. Neville swallowed the words he wanted to throw at them and slowly exited the room. He made it to the nearest bathroom and quickly emptied the contents of his stomach into the toilet. He felt sick, he felt sicker than sick. He didn't move for nearly an hour. His mind was fighting to process everything that was going on. He didn't want anything bad happening to his Gran, she was the only family he had left. Without her, he was the only Longbottom left. The thought sent a fresh wave of nausea through him, grabbing onto the porcelain toilet bowl as more bile came up.

How could these people be so cruel? Attacking a poor defenseless old woman.

Eventually he made it back to his dorm room, still feeling sick and disgusted. He curled up in the bed and felt the tears coming again. What if they killed her? What if his antics at school, trying to fight against the Death Eaters, what if standing up for what he believed in led to her death? He would never ever forgive himself.

Ever.

---------------------------------

The next few days Neville was silent and subdue. He just listened in class, he didn't cause any trouble. He could see the Carrows smirking at him from the front of the classroom or from the Head Table in the Great Hall. They had a power over him, and in breaking down Neville, all their problems were done, they had complete control over the school. Sure some of the other DA members still acted out every now and then, but nothing to the extent as they had before their leader went silent and submissive.

People asked him what was wrong, people tried to make him feel better… and there wasn't really much they could do. Neville didn't tell anyone for fear of having to think about it even more. One step out of line and he knew that they would kill her. They were heartless enough.

There were no more DA meetings, at least not to Neville's knowledge. He didn't want to provoke the Carrows in any way shape or form. Not if they had Gran.

Thankfully this only lasted for a few days. He got a letter late one evening. He almost didn't realize the owl tapping at his window until Seamus went over and opened it. The owl flew over to Neville's bed and landed on the book the Gryffindor was trying to read. Neville stared at it and looked at the envelope it had tied around one leg. It had his name scrawled on it in his Gran's writing. He'd recognize that anywhere. He quickly untied the note and opened it, ignoring the weird looks he was getting from his roommate.

_Nev,_

_I'm so proud of you, you have no idea how bloody proud I am. _

_Don't worry about me, I'm on the run, but I'm fine. _

_Your parents would be so proud of you, so proud of what you're doing. Don't stop. Give those Carrows something to worry about._

_I love you,_

_Gran_

It was short, and sweet, but it made tears form in Neville's eyes. How could he have been so stupid? He believed them when they gave him no proof in order to believe them. He took their word, he believed their lies. He truly couldn't believe himself. He couldn't stop the smile from forming. Gran was okay. She wasn't hurt, she wasn't captured by Death Eaters, she was fine. The relief in him was indescribable.

"You okay Nev?" Seamus cautiously asked.

Neville looked over at Seamus, still smiling and nodded. "Yeah. Meeting tomorrow night. Sp-spread the word."

---------------------------------

The halls were buzzing the next day. No one spoke directly of the meeting, but the prospect of having one made everyone excited. While they didn't do much against the Carrows anymore, the DA meetings turned into a sanctuary of sorts, a place where they could go to be safe. It was a place where they could be themselves and be kids without having to suffer the consequences of upsetting the Carrows. They might even catch a break and have a Potterwatch that evening.

Neville was once again different. Instead of being quiet and subdued like he had been for a while, he spoke out against the Carrows. Just little things, nothing too bad. He hated that feeling of being controlled by them, so any little thing he could do to show they didn't control him, he did. He wore sneakers instead of the uniform shoes. He didn't tie his tie. He left the top button of his shirt undone. He asked stupid questions in class (ones he couldn't get punished for), just to see how far he could push them.

Not a single punishment was dealt to him that day.

---------------------------------

That evening was a fantastic one. They met in the Room of Requirement. They didn't do much stuff one would consider "normal" at a DA meeting. Sure they opened up with some playful dueling, but it soon turned into more of just a small party. The room never ceased to amaze Neville. It provided chairs to sit on, and soon house elves appeared with snacks and beverages.

Terry and Ernie were messing around with the radio in the corner as Neville sat on one of the larger chairs, swirling the pumpkin juice in the cup. He liked seeing everyone so relaxed and laid back. It made him feel a lot better than he had in a long time. Susan soon walked over and sat down next to him. She put her head on his shoulder, causing his smile to grow a little more.

"Hey Susie," he sighed.

"I missed this Neville," she responded, her eyes moving around the room. It was nice seeing kids acting like kids again.

The two sat in silence for a while, just watching everyone in the room around them. Suddenly, Terry's voice permeated the room. "And we're in."

The room fell silent as the Potterwatch broadcast began. Neville wasn't paying much attention, his eyes wandering to those around him. Ernie had Hannah sitting on his lap, his arms wrapped around her. Hannah was smiling, and a laugh bubbled out of her when Ernie would randomly tickle her for no good reason. Seamus was sitting with the Patil twins, listening intently. Their numbers had decreased quite a bit since the DA first started, but Neville didn't think any less of the people that didn't return.

Terry was sitting right next to the radio with Tony and Michael, Mike's head resting on Lavender's lap. There were a few younger students that Neville didn't know all too well, that he wished he knew better.

His eyes ended up back on Ernie and Hannah. It was amazing how close the two were despite the darkness of the times. It was like nothing could touch them. He smiled again as Ernie tickled Hannah gently once again, causing a small squeal and subsequent giggles to rip through her and the small room.

"SHHHH!" Terry snapped. he knew that Potterwatch was the only way some people could get news on their loved ones outside of Hogwarts. Things fell immediately silent again.

"In other news," Rapier continued (Neville couldn't fully place the voice, it was either Fred or George… maybe Charlie). "Death Eaters tried to attack poor little Augusta Longbottom," suddenly all eyes were on Neville as the teen shifted to escape their sight. "Too bad they forgot how fierce the vulture was. Dawlish is still in the hospital because of her. Fantastic job if you're listening, I tip my metaphorical hat to you. Maybe we should just have you go find the Chief Death Eater and have you get rid of the fu—" Rapier was suddenly cut off by Romulus who didn't need Rapier going any further.

Neville felt a surge or pride. Gran had taken on an Auror and defeated him. She was safe, the thought just made him beam with pride for the old woman. Now maybe people would realize why he was so terrified of her. The broadcast continued, but Neville didn't really listen to it. He was so content with that little bit of news that he could store this feeling up and use it at a later date when he really needed it.

The meeting ended not too long later and people slowly began leaving to go to their respective common rooms. As usual, Neville was the last one to leave. He walked in silence with Seamus back to their common room.

Seamus tried to talk to Neville once they got their dorm, but Neville didn't really want to talk. He was happy… and it was nice to fall asleep with that feeling of joy deep inside him rather than the fear he was used to.

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**A/n:** Okay. Sorry that took so long to post. But it was a longer update, I just hope people out there are still interested. =/.

Leave some love?


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